The Story of FF7
by Ecron
Summary: FFVII novellization: Date night...
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
A shiver ran down the girl's spine. She rose from examining the green glow emanating from under the street, and looked around. It had been a long time since she had felt a premonition like this. Picking up her basket, she started walking down the alley, and continued until she emerged onto the major road. She stopped short as a car zoomed by, swirling her dress and long hair around her. Holding her basket under the crook of one arm, she straightened her hair and smoothed the folds of her dress as she gazed up into the night sky. The stars were invisible due to the vast sea of city lights surrounding her. She longed to escape this monstrosity of "civilization" to see the green fields, the mighty mountains, the endless oceans. . .to go home. It was the same longing she had felt for twenty-two years now. She'd lived here all her life, but still, she somehow knew this wasn't home. But the strange premonition she had felt remained. Perhaps things were about to change. Perhaps someone would come along. . .someone who would take her home. 


	2. AVALANCHE's First Mission

Author's Note: Yo.  This is my first go at this sort of thing, so please have mercy.  Anyway, a few things that need be said.  I'll go ahead and make you hate me now by saying that I'll probably be too lazy to finish this.  But hey, I might as well go ahead and do what I can.  I am an aspiring writer on my own, working on my own original novel, and so decided that I'd work on a story I already knew to develop my style.  But it's also a labor of love to some degree.  FF7 has just such a great plot as games go, and it could've gone so much farther if not for the limitations imposed by making it into a game, forcing them to sacrifice plot and character development in favor of gameplay.  Well, I don't have to worry about that.  So expect a lot less fighting in this version, and more story.  Again, sorry that I probably won't finish, but as for what's here, enjoy, and give me some feedback!

AVALANCHE's First Mission

            A piercing shriek rang out as the train ground to a halt at the station.  A guard glanced at his partner in confusion.  There weren't any trains scheduled to stop here tonight.  His partner shrugged.  Directives often got lost in the bureaucracy long before they ever got down to mere soldiers like himself.

            "Probably a maintenance crew," said the second guard.

            "At 11:30 PM?" the first replied incredulously.

            "Maybe it's pretty serious," said the second somewhat nervously.  "Well, no, it's probably nothing."

            The train door slid open and two figures emerged.  One was male, one female.  Both were dressed in patchwork, stained outfits, and wore grim looks.

            "What the. . ." said the first guard, but was cut short as the girl slammed her foot into his chest.  The second reached for his gun, but had barely grasped it before the man struck him with a quick uppercut, sending him headfirst into a metal post and knocking him out cold.  The man turned and gestured towards the train.  A short, pudgy man in similar attire as the first two stumbled out of the train.  Picking himself up, he yelled back to the train.  "Come on Barret!  They're. . ."

            "Shut the hell up, Wedge!" said their leader as he stepped out of the train to tower above them all on the platform.  Barret was a huge black man garbed in a torn black vest and dark green pants, with a tattoo of a flaming, screaming skull on his left bicep.  As if he wasn't distinctive enough already, Barret had no right hand.  Instead, on the end of his arm was grafted a functional gatling gun that he could fire with a simple muscular command as easily as he could clench a fist, if he had had one.  None of his comrades knew why he had replaced his hand with an automatic weapon, or where he kept the ammunition for it, but Barret wasn't the type who anyone was particularly eager to question.  "You know this is supposed to be a stealth mission!  'The hell you think you're doin' yellin' like that?"

            "You're yelling too. . ." muttered Wedge.

            "WHAT WAS THAT???" yelled Barret.

            "Nothing, nothing!" exclaimed Wedge.

            "Yo, get yo' ass out here now!" Barret called into the train.  The final member of their party immediately leaped out of the train to land beside them.  He was a twenty-something year old young man of average height, with striking blue eyes and blond hair that had an amazing tendency to gather in spikes shooting up from his head.  On his back he carried an enormous sword, the blade of which was about four feet long and an entire foot wide.  One edge of the blade was straight, while the other near the top curved in at a 45 degree angle to meet the straight edge. The sword also had two beautiful green gems set into it near the base.  His face was, as was usual for him, totally emotionless as he silently gazed at Barret.

            "You stupid fool!  Why didn't you come out with the rest of us?" demanded Barret.  The man stared coolly back at the furious commander.  

"You never told me to."

            Even the incredible stream of profanities from Barret directed at him failed to faze the man, so Barret turned his attention to the rest of his squad.  "Let's move!" he commanded, and the team made for the door into the station at the end of the platform.  The man with the sword was in back, but before he could follow the rest into the door, two soldiers emerged from the shadows to block his path.  "Going somewhere?" asked one.  The man stared at them.  "Get out of my way."

            "You know we've got guns, right?" asked the soldier.  "What're you gonna do, use that sword of yours?"

            The man just stared.  The guards waited for a moment, expectantly, but the man did nothing.  Eventually, one of the soldiers spoke.  "Look, why don't you…"

            In a flash, the man drew his huge sword and, raising it above his head, brought it down in a diagonal slash.  The soldiers were standing side by side, and were both struck by the sudden attack.  The soldiers fell to the ground, gasping desperately, but unable to scream due to their slashed lungs.  The man looked down at their bloody remains as he raised his sword above his head and twirled it around in a gesture of solemn celebration.

            "Yes, I am," he said.  He sheathed his sword and ran inside to find the rest of his squad.

            He raced through the station and exited to find the squad gathered by a huge blast door.  Wedge and Barret were at the door, presumably trying to open it, while the guy and girl were standing back near him.

            "So you were with SOLDIER, right?" asked the guy.

            "That's right," answered the man.

            "Wow.  Can't believe we have one of them on our side this time!" said the guy to the girl.

            "I never did catch your name," said the girl to the man with the sword.

            "Cloud."

            "Cloud?  Interesting name. . ." commented the girl.  "Well, I'm Jessie, and this is. . ."  
            Cloud shook his head.  "I don't care what your names are.  As soon as this job's over, I'm outta here."

            "You watch your attitude, merc!" said Barret, approaching them.  "I dunno what you're used to, with your ShinRa jobs and shit.  But you're workin' for me now, and you ain't gonna treat my men like that!  Got it?"

            Cloud crossed his arms and looked away.  "I'm takin' that as a yes, 'cause I'm in a good mood," said Barret.  "Now this is Jessie," he said, gesturing to the girl, who waved tentatively.  "This is Biggs," he said, pointing out the thinner man, who nodded.  "And this here's Wedge," finally looking towards the shorter, pudgy man, who grinned widely at Cloud.

            "It looks like you got the door open," said Cloud to Barret, ignoring the others.  "Are we goin' in or are we just going to stand here and chat all day?"  This prompted another outburst of cursing from Barret, at which all the others cringed.  But Cloud merely stared at the commander, waiting for an order.  When Barret had finished, he looked around at his squad.  "Well what the hell are you all waitin' for?  Let's get in there and blow that reactor!" he said, charging through the now open doors.  The rest of the team followed, but Cloud halted momentarily and looked upward, sizing up the huge metal structure emitting a green gas into the air.  Here he was, about to participate in a plan to blow up one of the very same reactors that he had once protected.  Shaking his head and clearing his mind of all reservations, he gripped the handle of the huge sword on his back as he ran to follow Barret and the others, into the Mako reactor.

            Cloud found them again waiting outside a set of doors.  Biggs and Wedge were working doors'control panel on the wall, while Jessie and Barret stood waiting in the middle of the room.  Barret turned to face Cloud as he approached.  "So you ever been inside one of these things before?" he asked.

            "Of course I have!" exclaimed Cloud.  "I was in SOLDIER, after all."

            "Yeah, yeah, we all know you was in SOLDIER, hot shot!" snapped Barret.

"Can you tell me about the reactor, Cloud?" asked Jessie.  "I know the basic concept of how it works, but I don't really know the details."

            Cloud shrugged.  "I was a SOLDIER, not some ShinRa mechanic who worked on the things.  I probably don't know much more than you do.  This is a Mako Reactor.  It basically sucks the Mako energy out of the core of the planet, and burns it as an extremely cost-effective power source.

            "Cost effective my ass!" exclaimed Barret.  "These things are killin' the planet!  That Mako energy is the lifeblood of this planet!  If ShinRa keeps on suckin' it out with these damn reactors, the planet's gonna die!  Don't you care 'bout any o' that?"

            Cloud shrugged again.  "Not my problem."

            "Not your problem!" Barret shouted.  "It's everyone's problem!  Didn' you hear me?  The planet's dyin', Cloud!"

            "Well that's why we have environmentalist terrorists like you, isn't it?" asked Cloud.  "To blow up Mako reactors and slow down the planet's impending death."

            "All right, that's it!" said Barret, gazing at Cloud with fury in his eyes.  "You're comin' with me from now on!"

            Cloud grimaced.  "I'm with you?  I thought I was going down alone."

            "You think I'm gonna trust you down there alone?  You'll probably call in some of yo' ShinRa buddies or somethin'!"

            Cloud stepped forward right up to Barret, their chests almost touching.  The scene was almost comical, as Barret stood almost a full foot taller than him, but Cloud stared up unflinchingly.  "I told you, I'm ex-SOLDIER.  I feel nothing for ShinRa."

            "Shit, you don't feel nothin' for nobody!" said Barret, turning away.  "Yo, Biggs!" he called.  How's the door?"

            "Almost there, Barret!" Biggs replied.

            Cloud laughed quietly.  "Do you really think you're the best candidate for a stealth mission?" he said to Barret.

            "What's that s'posed to mean?" demanded Barret.

            "Look at you!" said Cloud.  "You're big, you're loud, and you have a frickin' chain gun on your arm!  You're about the worst person imaginable to go down there if we're trying to avoid attention."

            "Look, hot shot, I'm the boss here, and if I say I'm goin' down, then I'm damn well goin' down!  Now if you want your pay, you'd better keep your mouth shut and do what I say from now on!  Got it?"

            Cloud cursed inwardly, but knew that Barret was right.  He knew he should've gotten his pay beforehand, but Barret had refused.  And so if he wanted his pay for the mission, he had to keep more or less on Barret's good side.  For now.

            "Got it!" said Biggs as the doors swung open.  The team rushed through, only to enter a small antechamber with another set of doors.  "I've got this one," said Jessie, as she ran forward to the control panel.  "Code deciphered," she said a minute later, as this set of doors opened.  The team now found themselves in a larger, better lit room, with computers and various machines all along the walls.  "The control room," said Barret.  "And there's the elevator," he said, pointing to a set of gleaming metal doors along the far wall.  "All right AVALANCHE, here's the plan.  Wedge, you double back and guard the outside of the reactor.  Biggs, you stand guard here.  Jessie, Cloud n' me are goin' down.  Move out!"

            "Roger, boss!" said Wedge, running back through the doors.  Biggs nodded and pulled out a handgun.  "Jessie, Cloud, let's go!" said Barret, charging for the elevator.  Cloud and Jessie followed as the doors opened.  They entered the small elevator.  "Cloud, push that button over there, will you?" asked Jessie, gesturing to a large pink arrow pointing down along the wall of the elevator.  Cloud complied, and the chamber started its descent into the heart of the planet.  "So what's with the name, anyway?  AVALANCHE?" said Cloud.  "That seems like a funny name for a group who's trying to save the planet.

            "Whadda you care?" said Barret.  There was a few moments silence.  Eventually, Jessie timidly spoke up.  "Well, an avalanche is kind of like the earth itself attacking something, right?  It just kind of picks itself up and rolls right over something.  That's the idea.  The planet's fighting back against ShinRa, and we're its weapon."

            "Don't bother, Jessie," said Barret.  "Hot shot over there don't care 'bout any o' that.  He's only in it for the money."

            "Pretty much," seconded Cloud.  "I was just curious."  Silence resumed for the remainder of their ride, and when the doors slid open at the bottom, the only audible sound was the overwhelming drone of the machinery all around them, working to extract the Mako energy from the planet.  Barret stuck his head out of the doors and peeked around.  "All right, it's clear.  Let's move!" he commanded, and the three of them started running.  They found themselves in a huge room, with ramps and stairways leading off in all directions.  "Where do we go now?" asked Jessie.

            "Down there," said Cloud, pointing to a small door far below them.  "That's the access to the actual reactor, where we're going to place the bomb."  They ran down several stairways without a challenge, and soon passed through the doorway.  After a short hallway, they walked onto a metallic walkway spanning a chasm.  Cloud looked down.  Far, far below them, he could see the sea of churning, glowing green.  "Mako. . ." he whispered to himself.

            "So that's. . .Mako?" asked Jessie.

            "That's it, all right," replied Barret.  "That's the lifeblood of the planet, right there.  And that's what we're here to save.  Jessie, you stay here.  You n' me are goin' it alone from here, merc," he said to Cloud.  Cloud nodded, and started for a ladder that led even further downwards.  "Good luck!" said Jessie.

            The ladder seemed to go on forever, but Cloud was ready for it.  Barret, however, was not, and soon enough a curse could be heard from him every five rungs.  Cloud ignored this, and just concentrated on the ladder.  Several minutes later, they finally reached the bottom, on the final walkway leading to the reactor.

            "Shit, man!  Never seen any ladder half that long in my life!  And to think we've gotta go back up that damn thing!" said Barret.

            "Oh, come on!  It's just a ladder.  Surely a big guy like you can handle a simple ladder?" said Cloud.

            "Shut up, ass!  It's a lot harder when you've only got one hand!" said Barret, gesturing with his gun-arm.  There was that, Cloud thought, but turned away and started running for the reactor without response.  Barret cursed again and ran after him.  Cloud soon stopped, however, when he saw a green gem in the middle of the walkway.

            "Hey, what's that?  Is that Materia?" said Barret, walking up behind him.

            "Yeah," said Cloud, retrieving the gem and sticking it into his pocket.

            "You know how to use them?  I've, uh, never learned how. . ."

            "You call yourself a warrior and you never learned about Materia?" said Cloud incredulously.  "What kind of two-bit rebel outfit is this?

            "Look, just place the bomb, all right?" said Barret.  "We'll talk about this later."

            "Can't wait," muttered Cloud.  "Give me the bomb."

            Barret reached into his pocket, grabbed the bomb, and tossed it to Cloud.  It wasn't very large, only about the size of a grapefruit, but Cloud knew enough about Mako reactors to know that if it was detonated right next to the reactor's heart, the resulting explosion would easily take out the reactor along with a goodly sized portion of the surrounding civilian population.  He wondered if Barret knew that, but it wasn't his place to inform the commander of such information.  He was only here to take orders.  He started walking towards the reactor. . .

_This isn't just a reactor!_

"What are you waitin' for?"

            "Huh?"  Cloud shook his head vigorously, then looked back at Barret, who was staring at him impatiently.  "Look, I don't know what the hell you're thinkin' about, it ain't that hard!  Just place the bomb, activate it, and we'll get the hell outta here!"

            "Right," said Cloud, moving forward to the reactor.  But what had that voice been?  "No time to think about it now," he thought, placing the bomb onto the side of the furnace-sized reactor.  The bomb had adhesives on the bottom, and it held fast to the side of the reactor, enabling Cloud to leave it there and push the red button, activating the countdown timer to detonation.  It beeped, and then sat there, silently counting down the seconds until the reactor and everything around it would go up in a sudden, apocalyptic blast.  

            "All right, let's get---" Barret started, but was interrupted by sirens going off all around.  "The hell is this?!?  They found us?"

            "It's a trap!" said Cloud, looking around.  "They were waiting for us all along!  And now the only way out is that narrow walkway!"

            "Well then let's--" said Barret, but was this time cut off when a huge robotic scorpion dropped down from far above, landing right in front of them and blocking their only exit.  It was a towering beast, with strong metallic armor, rifles instead of claws, and a huge, menacing tail.

            "The Guard Scorpion!" said Cloud.  "An old robotic guardian set to eliminate intruders that make it this far.

            "Well let's take it---AAARRGH!" shouted Barret, cut off a third time by the Scorpion's rifles.  Cloud rushed forward and, drawing his sword, swung at the Scorpion's metallic carapace.  Electricity surged out as the sword slashed through wiring, but Cloud's gloves protected him from the high voltage bolts conducted by his sword.  The Scorpion didn't react at all to the hit, however.  It merely lifted a leg and batted at Cloud, throwing him back to land beside Barret.  

            "Damn, that thing hits hard," said Cloud, climbing to his feet.

            "You're tellin' me!  I just got shot!" declared Barret, spitting blood.  "All right, bitch!  You think you got firepower?  Try some o' this!"  He raised his right arm, steadied it with his left, and fired a stream of bullets from his gun-arm into the Scorpion.  Cloud could see the bullets' impact, but these too hardly seemed to faze the robot.  A beam shot out from its gleaming eyes to swirl around the pair.

            "What was that?" asked Barret, still firing.

            "Search Scope!  Dodge!" shouted Cloud, and the pair dove aside just as a missile shot out from a previously unseen cannon on the Scorpion, exploding right where they had been standing.

            "Shit, man!  How're we gonna beat this thing?" asked Barret.  Without a word, Cloud returned his sword to its sheath on his back.  "What're you doin'?" demanded Barret, but Cloud just raised his hands at the Scorpion.  Green energy started to swirl around him as one of the gems embedded in his sword started glowing fiercely.  "BOLT!" shouted Cloud, and a bolt of electricity leaped from his hands to strike the Guard Scorpion just as it was taking aim with its rifles.  The electricity surged up and down the Scorpion's entire body, and it trembled as its systems short-circuited from the unexpected power surge.

            "What the..?" said Barret, for once at a loss for words.

            "It's not down yet!" said Cloud, as the Scorpion's trembling stopped.

            "Well it's gonna be!" said Barret, as he once again raised his gatling gun and opened fire.  The Scorpion didn't return fire, but instead started trembling again as it started to raise its tail.

            "Barret, stop!" shouted Cloud, but Barret just kept shooting.  The tail rose higher, almost reaching a point directly above the Scorpion's head.  "STOP!" shouted Cloud, and he dove and tackled Barret.  They fell in a pile to the ground with the Scorpion towered above them, still shaking with its tail raised menacingly.

            "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?" shouted Barret, throwing the smaller man across the platform.  Cloud landed against the walkway's railing, just barely too low to sail over the railing and into the abyss of swirling green below.  He landed on the walkway, gasping from the pain of the impact.  "YOU SHINRA LOVIN' BASTARD!"

            "Don't…" started Cloud, but winced as he tried to regain his breath from the impact against the railing.  Barret raised his gun again, this time at Cloud.  "Don't attack when its tail is up!" Cloud managed.

            "Huh?" said Barret.

            "It'll counterattack with its laser!  Its Tail Laser, its ultimate weapon!"

            "Then why didn't you say somethin' instead of just tacklin' me like that?" asked Barret.  This time it was Cloud's turn to curse.  "So what do we do?" said Barret.

            "It'll lower its tail soon.  Just wait, and as soon as it does, give it everything you've got."  The pair stood still, slightly unsteady from their wounds, but still with vitality in their bodies and determination in their spirits.  A few moments later, the Scorpion ceased trembling and its tail started to lower.

            "NOW!" shouted Cloud, and Barret opened fire.  Cloud raised his hands and shot another Bolt at the robot, but it still didn't fall.  It instead turned its rifles once again on Barret.

            "SHIT!" he shouted, and dove aside just as the rifles raked the area.  He had been ready for the attack this time, but still wasn't able to totally avoid the shots, and was hit in the side.  He swore as he landed hard on the walkway.

            "All right, you piece of shit.  NOW I'M PISSED!" Barret screamed, and raised his gun.  An orange ball of energy started to form on the end of his gun-arm, enlarging until it reached about the size of the Scorpion's head.  "EAT THIS, BIG SHOT!" he said, and fired the blast.  Barret's incredible attack blew away a portion of the Scorpion's armor, revealing the inner workings of the robotic guardian.  "All right, Cloud!  Hit it in there!" Barret called.  Cloud raised his hands once more, just as the Scorpion raised its rifles.  "BOLT!" Cloud shouted, and was immediately hit square in the chest by the rifle fire.  He yelled with pain as the shots threw him backward into the reactor, and he slid down to the floor, bleeding.  But his shot had hit, too.  The Bolt had entered right into the Scorpion's exposed inner area, and it started to tremble even more violently than before.  "It's gonna blow!" shouted Barret, and dove down just as a huge explosion rocked the robot.  Shrapnel flew everywhere, and Cloud groaned as he felt the metal shards raking through his flesh.  When he finally managed to raise his head, he saw that the battle was over.  The Scorpion was now just a burned-out hulk in the middle of the walkway which could be easily climbed over.  "Easy if I weren't on the brink of death," he thought grimly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" shouted Barret, alternatively crouching down and then shooting back up, pumping his fist into the air triumphantly.

"What the hell's that, the Barret Dance?" Cloud muttered.

"What was that???" said Barret, turning to the downed mercenary.  "Shit!  How're you still alive lookin' like that?"  Cloud looked down at himself.  The rifles had left several bullet-holes in his chest, and blood was freely pouring out of them to gather in a quickly growing puddle on the floor.  This, along with the countless cuts and scrapes he had accumulated from the debris of the explosion left him a mess of a human being.  "But at least yo' pretty lil' face is still all right."

"Shut up and get me a potion," Cloud said, feeling himself starting to pass out, and knowing that if he did, he likely wouldn't wake up again.

"Right, right," said Barret, and, reaching into his pocket, took out a bottle of glittering blue liquid and held it to Cloud's lips.  "Drink up, ya can't die before you get your pay, right?"  The potion was magically enchanted to provide accelerated healing, and Cloud could feel his bleeding cease and, a few moments later, the wounds starting to seal themselves up.  He soon was able to climb back to his feet, still hurt, but well able to continue.  "How much time was the bomb set for?" he asked

"Oh, shit!  Ten minutes!" said Barret.  "And it started before we fought that thing!  We've gotta move!"

The pair sprinted to the end of the walkway reaching the ladder at the end.  Leaping up and catching hold of the seventh rung up, Cloud started hauling himself up as quickly as he possibly could in his condition, followed by Barret.  Barret was again at a disadvantage, but this time used his great strength and size to his advantage, pulling himself up several rungs at a time with his massive arm to keep up with Cloud's slower, but more regular pace.  They reached the top in record time, and proceeded to run back up to where Jessie crouched, waiting for them.

"Jessie, let's move!" Barret shouted.

"I. . . I can't!  My foot's stuck!" she said, pointing down.  Her foot was caught in the grating of the metal walkway.  Cloud ran up to her and soon had her foot freed.

"Thanks!" she said, smiling quickly at him.  "Okay, let's get out of here!"  The trio ran back through the narrow hallway, and into the huge room, only to face a storm of gunfire.  Four ShinRa troops stood next to the stairway they needed to reach to get to the elevator.  Barret swore.  "Dammit, we don't have time for this!"

"What do we do?" asked Jessie fearfully.

"I'll lay down a cover fire, the two of you run for it," said Barret.

"But you can't take care of all of them yourself!" said Jessie.

"I can damn well try!" said Barret grimly.

"I'll help," said Cloud.

"You?  You mean you're just gonna waltz right up to 'em so you can slice 'em with that sword of yours?"  Cloud pulled out his sword briefly and pointed out the gems to Barret.  "Oh, right.  Okay. . .now!"  Barret stepped outside the doorway and opened fire.  The green energy rose around Cloud again as he prepared yet another spell.  "ICE!" he shouted, and a blast of intense cold hit one of the soldiers, dropping him where he stood.  A sweep of Barret's gatling gun was enough for the other three, soon leaving the AVALANCHE members alone.  "Go!" shouted Barret, and he and Cloud ran to follow Jessie up the stairs.  They soon reached the elevator, and Cloud jammed the button.  "Come ON!  Can't this thing go any faster?!?" demanded Barret.  "No, it can't!  But it's the only way!" exclaimed Jessie.  Two minutes later, they emerged at the top and sprinted out.  Biggs was waiting for them where he'd been left.  "Hey, Barret, what's. . ."

"MOVE YOUR ASS NOW!" Barret shouted, and Biggs joined them in their sprint out of the reactor.

"How much. . . time?" Jessie gasped.

"Who knows?  We'll find out soon enough!" replied Barret.  They passed through the antechamber, and then out of the reactor.  "Wedge, come on!" said Biggs as they approached their final member.  Wedge saluted quickly and joined them.

"How big is the blast gonna be, Jessie?" said Barret.

"Shouldn't be. . .too bad," she panted.  "We shoud be. . .safe now."

"Hell, no!" said Cloud.  Everyone turned to look at him.  "Keep running!  When these things blow, they really explode!  This reactor's gonna take out a good bit of this neighborhood with it!"

"What?" demanded Barret.

"JUST RUN!" shouted Cloud, and they resumed their sprint.  They soon left the reactor complex and found themselves sprinting through city streets.  People on the streets gave them very odd looks as they passed: three slum-dwellers, an enourmous black man with a gun for an arm, and a man dressed like a SOLDIER with an incredibly large sword, all running full tilt as if their lives depended on it.  Which, of course, they did, though the bystanders couldn't know it.

"How much. . .longer?" asked Barret.

"Just keep running!" said Cloud, and they continued their dash through the streets.  But not for long.

"Residents be advised, there has been an accident on Figaro Street," said the news man, high above the streets of Midgar in his helicopter.  "Traffic is backed up, and it is estimated that it will be. . .oh shit!" he exclaimed, as a shock wave rocked his helicopter.  The explosion was huge, bigger than anything he had ever seen or hoped to see in his life.  Black and green smoke mingled to hover above the site as the debris went everywhere, showering the un-expecting city.

"Mike, what the hell is going on up there?" demanded his boss through his headphones.  "What are you doing talking like that on the air?"  Mike didn't answer directly, but instead spoke into his mouthpiece, broadcasting to the traffic radio program.  "This is Mike Cecil, with breaking news.  Midgar's number one Mako reactor has just exploded.  Repeat, Mako reactor number one has just exploded."


	3. Escape to the Slums

Escape to the Slums

            The roaring inferno towered high above the city.  Light from the reactor's fire spread all across the immediate area, casting an eerie, haunting glow into every dark corner of the metropolis.  One such corner was the small, dank alley in which the members of AVALANCHE had now gathered, regaining their stamina from their sprint.  All were exhausted and nearly incapacitated for the time being, except Barret and Cloud.  Cloud's extensive training back in his ShinRa days had put him in peak physical condition.  Barret was not as well suited as Cloud for long-distance running, but his fury kept him active.

            "WHAT THE HELL YOU MEAN YOU KNEW THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN?!?" yelled Barret.  The light from the flames played over his face, giving his already furious countenance an almost hellish appearance.

            "You keep yelling like that and they may hear you over in ShinRa H.Q." said Cloud.

            "I don't care!  Maybe I deserve it after that!" said Barret.  "I can't believe it. . .an explosion that big, who knows how many died?"

            "I'd say a few hundered, maybe," remarked Cloud.

            "SHUT UP!  I DIDN' WANT YOU TO ANSWER!" screamed Barret.  "I can't believe it!  You knew all along those people were gonna die, and you didn't tell any of us?"

            "Forgive me, I assumed you knew what you were doing," Cloud replied coolly.  "Isn't it your responsibility to know the consequences of your actions?  It's very unprofessional. . ."

            "ALL RIGHT, WE SCREWED UP!" shouted Barret.  "THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULDN'T BRING UP SOMETHIN' LIKE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DYIN'!  YOU KNEW IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN, AN' YOU DIDN' SAY A DAMN THING!!!"

            "It's not my job to say anything," Cloud said.  "I'm just here to follow your orders, mon capitain.  And since you didn't order me to say anything, I didn't."

            "An' because you didn't, a bunch o' people are dead!" said Barret.  "Don't you care 'bout none o' that?  That you could've prevented hundreds of deaths, but you didn't 'cause you were too full of yourself to say anything?"

            "Don't blame this on me!" said Cloud.  "You're the terrorist who wanted to blow up a frickin' Mako reactor!"

            Barret jumped up, and from the look in his eyes it was clear he was ready to kill.  Jessie leaped to her feet and grabbed his arms, restraining him.  "Barret, no!  It's not Cloud's fault!  He's right, we should have known what the bomb would do!"  Barret reluctantly backed down, cursing under his breath.  Cloud just smirked, but couldn't help but feel a hint of regret.  Did things really have to turn out this way?

            "This is comin' out of your pay, hot shot!" said Barret.

            "What the hell?!?" exclaimed Cloud, immediately on his feet.  "I thought we'd agreed that this wasn't my fault!"

            "You wanna argue about it, you can go your own damn way right now.  I won't miss ya!" said Barret.  "But if you want any money at all, you're followin' my rules.  And my rules are you lose cash for frickin' neglecting to mention the fact that hundreds of people were gonna die!"

 "I don't have to put up with this!" declared Cloud.

            "Sure ya don't," replied Barret.  "But ya do if you want your pay."

            "Bullshit!" said Cloud, but knew that Barret was right.  Why the hell hadn't he insisted on getting paid before the mission, or at least getting an actual contract and set amount of money?  Barret had him in a corner, and he knew it.  Cloud hated being under someone else's control.  It was the worst feeling in the world not to be in control of his own destiny.  "As soon as I get paid for this mission, I'm outta here.  I'm never working for some berserker terrorist like him again.  I'm doing my own thing from now on.  I've got to make my own way in the world."

            "All right AVALANCHE, here's the plan," said Barret after a few minutes.  "We're splittin' up, then we're gonna meet at the train station in fifteen minutes.  Got it?"  The crew members murmured their assent.  "All right, move out!"  Barret, Wedge, and Biggs started to walk out of the alley back into the city.  Jessie started to follow, but then turned to Cloud.  "Don't worry about Barret," she said.  "I know you wouldn't have just let those people die.  He just gets mad and doesn't think things through.  Don't take it too hard."  Cloud nodded.  "All right, I'll see you at the station!" she said, and ran off into the streets.  Cloud again felt a pang at his conscience.  Of course he had just let the people die.  Was he really this barbaric?  Was this really how he was?

            "Can't think like this," he said to himself, and briskly started walking out in the streets.  He didn't think about where to go, he just knew that he needed to move and distract himself from the disturbing voices in his head.  He wandered throughout the streets, not seeing anything except for the haunting glow cast onto the surroundings by the conflagration behind him.

_A lone swordsman, walking grimly away from a scene of flame and death. . . you've seen this before.  Haven't you..?_

            Cloud regained his senses to find himself on his knees in the middle of the street.  "What the hell is happening to me?" he thought, as he shook his head to try and clear it of the voice.  That was twice in one day that he'd had these hallucinations, or whatever they were.  He'd managed to forget the one by the reactor thanks to the battle and flight that had followed, but now that one came rushing back to him as well.  "_This isn't just a reactor!_"  Of course it was just a reactor!  What the hell else would it be?  And then just now. . .  "_A lone swordsman, walking grimly away from a scene of flame and death. . . you've seen this before.  Haven't you. . .?_"  Of course he hadn't!  He'd never seen such a thing before.  Except. . .

            "On that day, five years ago. . ." Cloud muttered to himself.  He immediately leaped to his feet, and started walking briskly away from the fire.  He needed to escape.  Something about this mission was screwing with his mind, and he needed to get his money as soon as he could and move on with his life.  

            He turned a corner, trying to remember where he was going when he saw yet another disturbing scene.  Three thugs were mugging a young woman in a pink dress.  They were unarmed, but nevertheless the girl could naturally not defend herself against three tough men.  Any other day, Cloud might have passed by such a scene with nothing but indifference.  It wasn't his problem.  But the lingering guilt about so many deaths, as well as the fear of the mysterious hallucinations still plagued his mind, and Cloud knew that he had to do something.  He started sprinting towards the thugs.  Though he was thirty feet away when he started, his training had given him nearly superhuman speed as well as stamina.  Before the thugs knew it, he was on them.  Cloud kicked the first thug in the back, sending him face-first into the nearby brick wall and knocking him out of the fight.  The other two turned around, now aware that they had more pressing matters than harassing a young woman.  One of the thugs swung at Cloud, but the mercenary quickly dodged the blow.  He then grabbed the thug's extended arm, and threw him, too, into the wall.  The third, seeing how easily his two companions had fallen, backed off a few steps from his adversary.  He then drew a small item from his pocket, and pressed a button on it, causing a small blade to emerge.  The thug grinned toothily.  Cloud smiled back, as he drew his own blade.  He had rarely seen such terror as he now witnessed in the thug's eyes.  Seeing that he was outmatched, he made a run for it.  Cloud didn't pursue.  The girl was safe, and that was what mattered.  Bending down to his knees, he took hold of the girl, and gently helped her up.  "Are you okay?"

            She looked up at him.  She had long brown hair, tied back in a ponytail, but with several strands falling to partially conceal her face, giving her an enigmatic, mysterious appeal.  Her eyes were a deep, emerald green, and the smile that she was giving him was dazzling.  She was beautiful, Cloud realized.  It had been a long time since anyone had struck him like this, and he was stunned momentarily.

            "Thank you so much!" she said, still beaming at him.

            It took Cloud a second to recover himself.  "No problem," he said at length.  "I just couldn't walk by while they did that to you.  Are you all right?"

            "I think so," she said, standing up fully and dusting herself off.  "They weren't really trying to kill me or anything, they just were trying to get to my money."

            "Did they?" Cloud asked.

            The girl grinned back at him.  "I don't have any."  She looked at Cloud more penetratingly now, and he felt slightly nervous.  "Hey, did you come from that way?" she asked, gesturing towards the former location of Mako reactor #1.

            "Um, yeah," Cloud said, not liking where this was going.

            "What happened?  I heard a huge explosion, and now there's that fire reaching high up into the sky."

            "There was an accident at the reactor," Cloud said.

            "An accident?" the girl asked, looking concerned.  "Oh no!  Is everyone all right?"

            Cloud felt a pang at his heart.  "I. . .I don't know.  Look, you'd better get out of here, it isn't safe.  Can you make it home all right by yourself?"

            "I think so," said the girl.  "I just hope all the people near the reactor are all right."

            Dammit, why did she have to keep bringing that up?  "Don't worry about it.  You've had enough of a night yourself, I think."

            "That's true," she said, smiling prettily at him.  "Is there anything I can do to repay you for helping me?"

            "Not without money, no," he thought.  "Don't worry about it."

            "Well, okay.  I guess there isn't much I could do for you, anyway," she said.  "But I feel bad just leaving like this, when you've done something so kind for me," she continued, while bending down to pick up the basket she had dropped.  When Cloud peered inside, he saw that it was filled with beautiful flowers of every color imaginable.  "How on earth do you get a hold of fresh flowers in Midgar?" he asked.

            "Somehow, I manage to grow them where I live, in the Sector 8 slums.  Then I come up here, where people actually have money to spare, and try to sell them."

             "Well then there's something you can do to repay me.  You can sell me a flower."

            She grinned widely.  "Oh, you like them?  They're only a Gil apiece!"

            "That's a deal for a rare commodity like flowers," Cloud commented, while reaching into his pocket.  He pulled out a coin and handed it to the flower girl.

            "Thank you!" she said, still smiling widely at him.  "I just can't thank you enough for. . ."

            Suddenly Cloud found himself wishing that the conversation were at an end.  "Look, you need to get out of here.  You'd better start for home."

            The girl's smile faded a little bit.  "Yes, yes I guess you're right.  Well, thanks again for everything!"  And she turned her back and walked off towards Sector 8.  Cloud watched her go, musing.  Why had he done that?  Because she had made him feel so uncomfortable.  She reminded him of things in his past, things about himself, that it would be easier not to acknowledge.  He thrust the encounter out of his mind, and tried to remember what he was doing before he'd seen the mugging.  He had been walking to nowhere in particular.  He had come from the alley with the members of AVALANCE. . .who he had been supposed to meet at the train station in 15 minutes!  Cloud didn't wear a watch, but knew it had been longer than that since he had left the alleyway, and he didn't even know how long he had been semi-unconscious during his episode with that mysterious voice.  He cursed to himself.  That train would be leaving any minute now!  He started jogging, not wanting to attract attention by sprinting through the city streets.  He passed through a small courtyard that seemed to once be part of a park.  It was now totally paved over, with graffiti covering the decrepit walls.  There was no nature to be found anywhere in the city, which was why finding a girl with fresh flowers was so uncommon.  Of course, she was uncommon for other reasons as well. . .

            "Shut up," Cloud told himself, as he exited the small courtyard and emerged into a nicer area of town.  Here upscale apartment buildings replaced the crowded low-income housing he had seen recently, and it was a refreshing change.  But there was no time to linger, he knew.  He had to make it to the station as quickly as possible, before AVALANCHE's train left.  But thankfully, he knew the station was nearby.  In fact, right around this corner. . .

            Cloud stopped dead in his tracks.  At the end of this road he could see the train station, but in between him and his destination stood two ShinRa soldiers.  He cursed to himself as he pondered his options.  Should he just attack them, and rush onto the train before any others could catch him?  Or should he try to sneak around them?

            "Hey, you there!" said a voice from behind him. Cloud froze.  "Turn around!  Slowly!"  Cloud pivoted around on one foot to face two more ShinRa soldiers.  "Is there a problem?" asked Cloud.

            "He sure fits the description.  He's one of them, all right," said one of the soldiers.  "Not many people around with a sword that size."

            "Okay, don't try anything stupid, and this'll go pretty easy," said the other soldier.  Cloud didn't reply, but instead started to focus his thought.  One of the gems in his sword began to glow.

            "Slowly draw the sword, and put it on the ground," said a soldier.  Cloud didn't respond.  "Hey, did you hear me?  Draw the sword and drop it!"  Cloud raised his hands.  "What the. . ."  The soldier didn't get a chance to finish, as he was frozen nearly solid by Cloud's attack.  The other raised his gun to take aim, but Cloud was already rushing towards him, sword drawn.  One slash and the second was down.  Cloud turned back toward the station to see the other pair of soldiers rushing towards him, guns drawn.  He dove to the pavement as bullets flew though the air.  As he got back to his feet, however, ready to launch another Ice attack, he stumbled into another pair of soldiers behind him.  Before he knew it, he was totally surrounded.  He backed up slowly until he reached a railing. "Surrender now!" said one of the soldiers.  Cloud looked around.  There were eight of them now, blocking every street, including the one to the railway station.  The road he was on was in reality an overpass, overlooking the train track below.  He heard a whistle from the station down the road as the train he was supposed to catch began to depart.

            "Look guys, I don't have time for this," Cloud said.

            "Oh, you'll have all the time you want when you're in a jail cell waiting for your execution!" said a soldier.  "Get him!"

            Four of the soldiers rushed forward to grab him, while the others covered them with their rifles.  Cloud looked around desperately for a way out of the situation.  Being an ex-SOLDIER, he could conceivably take them on, but there was no time.  He had to reach the train!  But glancing behind him, he saw the train already passing by.  He had missed it.  Unless. . .

            "I told you, I don't have time to play with you all right now.  Sorry," said Cloud, and suddenly leaped over the railing.  He landed on the roof of the rapidly accelerating train below just before it entered a tunnel.  He had escaped.

            "He never showed," remarked Biggs.  He was sitting inside the dimly lit luggage compartment of the train along with Barret, Wedge, and Jessie.

            "Wonder what could've happened to him?  Do you think they caught him?" said Wedge.

            "Cloud. . ." said Jessie.

            Barret slammed his fist into a nearby suitcase, breaking it into pieces.  "Who the hell cares?  You think he cared 'bout any of you, or any of those people who died tonight, or what we're fightin' for?  Hell no!  He was just in it for the money!  And when he found out he wasn't gettin' as much as he'd wanted, he took his selfish mercenary ass elsewhere!  We're better off without him!"

            "But could you have beaten that Scorpion robot without him?" asked Jessie.  In response, Barret bashed the suitcase once again, this time shattering the expensive laptop computer inside.  Jessie decided now wasn't the time to challenge her leader.  The team sat in an awkward silence.

            BANG BANG BANG!  A strange percussive sound reverberated throughout the luggage car from the ceiling.  "What the hell is that???" demanded Barret, immediately raising his gun-arm.  The team uneasily looked at each other, unsure what to make of this.  The banging sound echoed through the metal car again.  Whatever was banging on the roof seemed to be getting more insistent.  Barret stood up slowly, raising his gun to point squarely at the spot on the ceiling that seemed to be the source of the sound.  "Get ready," he ordered the team.  Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge pulled out their handguns hesitantly, staring nervously up at the ceiling.  But they were all unprepared when not the ceiling, but the door in the side of the car burst open.  They all leapt back, swiveling their weapons to point at. . .

            "CLOUD!" shouted Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.  Barret stared in a mixture of disgust and disbelief.  Cloud nonchalantly brushed himself off.  "Looks like I'm a little late," he said.

            "YOU DAMN RIGHT YOU'RE LATE!" screamed Barret, punching the metal wall, and causing a major dent.  "THAT'S COMIN' OUTTA YOUR PAY, BIG SHOT!"  Cloud insides boiled in rage, but he forced himself to just shrug.  He knew arguing with Barret would do no good, so he might as well play it cool and look like the better man.  "Which I am," he thought smugly.  That helped him calm down a little.  

            "Look, I don't know how you did it, an' I don't care," said Barret, glaring at Cloud.  "But now that we all are here, we're movin' into the passenger section.  Let's go!"  He stormed off towards the door at the far end of the car which led to the forward part of the train.  Biggs followed, giving Cloud a covert thumbs-up on the way.  Wedge went next, whispering "That was great!" as he passed by.  Finally came Jessie.  

            "Oh, Cloud, what happened to you?  Your face is pitch-black!"  Cloud remembered diving to the pavement to dodge the soldiers' gunfire, not to mention his proximity to a huge fiery explosion shortly before.  

            "Well, it has been a pretty rough night," he said, shrugging.  

            Jessie laughed.  "Yeah, I guess it has."  She pulled out a rag from her pocket and proceeded to wipe the worst of the grime from Cloud's face.  "There you go!" she said.  "And by the way, no matter what Barret says, you did a great job tonight!"  She then smiled at him and turned around to follow her comrades.  Cloud stared after her, bemused.  He shook his head, laughing softly to himself, and followed into the main section of the train.

            Cloud emerged into a reasonable well furnished passenger car.  The car was empty save for AVALANCHE and one rather frightened-looking train attendant.  Biggs and Wedge sat in a near corner, talking.  Further ahead Barret sat by himself, staring out the window and looking frustrated as always.  In the far corner of the car, Jessie stood looking at a computer monitor.  Cloud walked leisurely down the aisle, glad to finally be able to relax.  It wasn't going to be a long ride, and by the time that the ShinRa military forces he had encountered were able to contact their headquarters, and the headquarters able to contact this train, he and AVALANCHE would be long gone.  "I love bureaucracies when I'm not a part of 'em," he thought to himself.

            "Look at that out there," said Barret, without turning from the window.  Cloud moved over to the window and peered outside.  They were now under the plate of the city of Midgar.  "That damn "pizza" is why all the slum folks down here are sufferin' like they are," said Barret.  "There was already a city here, but ShinRa decides that it ain't good enough for their capital.  So they build a frickin' metal plate on top of it so they can build another city on the plate.  So now that they got their dream city up there, they totally neglect the slums below the plate.  So now we got no public services here, so everything's slowly fallin' apart.  That, and the plate traps all the pollution an' shit down here, and keeps any sunlight from gettin' in."  Barret finally looked away from the window to Cloud.  "But I guess you don't care about any o' that, do you?" he said, not angrily, but actually sadly.  Cloud stared at the huge man silently.  It seemed that the roots of Barret's hatred of ShinRa went deeper then the company's ruthless exploitation of the planet's Mako energy.  He wondered if Barret had any other grudges against ShinRa that he hadn't yet mentioned.  

            "Why don't the people in the slums just move topside?" Cloud inquired.

            "Hell, they don' have the money for that!" exclaimed Barret.  Midgar on top o' the plate is the most expensive place on the Planet!  Besides. . . some people just love their homes, no matter how polluted they get. . ."

            "I guess they're like this train," thought Cloud to himself.  "They can only go where their tracks take them. . .they have their own route, and they've just got to go through with it."  Shaking his head free of these unaccustomed philosophical thoughts, he moved on.

            "Hey, Cloud!  Look at this!" called Jessie from the corner of the cabin.  Cloud walked over to her, and looked at the monitor she gestured to.  A green wire-frame model of the city of Midgar was displayed on the screen.  "I like this sort of thing," remarked Jessie.  "Bombs and monitors, you know.  Flashy stuff."  She looked down to the floor, remorsefully.  "I just wish I'd known what that last bomb would do. . ."

            "Don't worry about it," said Cloud.  He was getting sick of hearing about the collateral damage of the bomb.  Each time it was brought up, his conscience bothered him, which was something he wholeheartedly wanted to avoid.

            "Thanks," said Jessie, turning back to the monitor.  "Anyway, this is just a diagram of the train's route.  The train loops around the Sector 7 main support pillar of the plate."  Cloud recalled that the Midgar plate was held up by huge metal pillars, positioned below it around the slums.  "According to this diagram, we should be entering a security check point soon."

            Just as she said this, the overhead lights in the train blinked off, to be replaced by pulsating red lights as a high-pitched whine was heard.  "Yep, this is it," said Jessie.  "This section of the train tunnel has sensors which scan the personal I.D. cards of each passenger.  If they find a bad one or one marked for arrest, they put them into custody before the train even arrives."  She turned back to Cloud, grinning.  "Lucky for us I designed fake cards, eh?"

            "Guess so," said Cloud.  The red lights soon gave way to the regular lights, and the whine dissipated.  Mere moments afterward, however, they could feel the train losing speed as it pulled into the train station of the Sector 7 slums.  They had arrived.


	4. Seventh Heaven

_Been a while, hasn't it?  Bet whoever actually bothered to read this thought I'd already given up.  Well, I am lazy, but not abysmally so.  I'm still here, and I'm still workin', though that bloody real-world work and all that jazz keeps me pretty busy.  But you can expect me to keep it up for a while.  For those of you who've criticized my style, much thanks, and keep it coming!  The development of a good fictional style is an ongoing process for me, as I suppose it is for any aspiring writer, so any non-flaming comments are much appreciated.  As for those of you who are irritated that I'm doing another novelization of FFVII, and that I shouldn't start something that I probably won't finish, terribly sorry, but I'm doin' it, so don't bother telling me not to.  Anyway, hope you all enjoy my latest installment!_

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Seventh Heaven

Cloud hopped out of the train, soon followed by the other members of AVALANCHE, along with two other equally ill-clad passengers, evidently other residents of the Sector 7 slums.  The rebel group clustered together in a tight circle on the platform as Barret prepared to speak.

            "A'ight, you all know the drill!"  His eyes then fell on Cloud, staring up at him with a cocked eyebrow.  "Oh, that's right, spikey-ass here's still new.  We break up, and make our way back to HQ individually to avoid any suspicion."

            "Well where the hell's this HQ of yours?" asked Cloud irritably.

            "You know damn well where the HQ is!" snapped Barret, glaring at him.  "The Seventh Heaven!"

            "What, the bar?" said Cloud incredulously.  "The headquarters of your big anti-ShinRa terrorist organization is in Tifa's bar?"

            "You got a problem with that, merc?" demanded Barret, staring down at Cloud menacingly.  Cloud didn't respond.  By now he was beginning to realize, like the rest of AVALANCHE, that challenging Barret was at best futile and at worst extremely hazardous.  "Hazardous to him," Cloud thought, but kept his mouth shut nonetheless.  "Okay, move out!" said Barret, and the team began to disperse.  Biggs broke off in a dash towards the slums, followed by Wedge at a more leisurely pace.  Barret went in the opposite direction, where all Cloud could see was a cluster of wrecked train cars, but he assumed that the rebel leader knew what he was doing.  Jessie, however, lingered by Cloud.  

            "So. . . do you know how to get there?" said Jessie to Cloud.

            "Sure," he said, shrugging.  "That's where I found you guys in the first place, remember?  Only I figured that you were just hanging out there, not that it was actually your hideout."

            She laughed pleasantly.  "Yeah, it is kind of a weird place for a rebel headquarters, isn't it?  Well, Tifa's one of us, so it makes sense."

            "Does she actually come with you on missions, or does she just give you a place to stay?" asked Cloud.

            "She mostly stays behind and keeps an eye on the bar," replied Jessie.  "I wouldn't mind having her along every once in a while, though.  Have you ever seen that girl fight?"

            Cloud was about to reply that he hadn't, but all of a sudden he had a vision of Tifa in a large hat, holding a huge katana unsteadily.  "Where the hell did that come from?" he thought.  "No, never seen her," he said, shaking his head.

            "Well, she's one of the fastest fighters I've ever seen, and stronger than me, Biggs, and Wedge put together!  Nothing compared to you, of course. . ."  Her voice trailed off.  Cloud shrugged.  "Anyway, I guess I'll see you there, then," she said.  Cloud nodded, and she started making her way off in the same direction as Biggs and Wedge.  Cloud remained on the train platform for a few minutes, allowing Jessie time to get a good head start before starting off in the same direction.  To his right, Cloud became aware of the two that had exited the train along with AVALANCHE, a young man and woman, standing immediately out of the area of a streetlight.  Squinting through the light's bright glare, he could see the two holding each other, making out.  Cloud snorted.  Despite the fact that girls had thrown themselves all over him, he'd never had a girlfriend, and didn't intend to anytime soon.  "More important things to do," he thought to himself, as he continued down the road towards the Sector 7 slums.

            As he drew away from the train platform, Cloud noticed two ShinRa soldiers standing guard on a path to his left.  "No wonder Barret wanted us to be careful.  ShinRa's even got a presence down here with the slum-dwellers."  To his right led another path.  Looking down that way, Cloud saw a massive metal pillar, extending all the way to the artificial sky, the metal plate that sectioned off the slums from the upper city of Midgar proper.  This was in fact one of the support pillars that suspended the plate above the slums and supported Upper Midgar.  Cloud was surprised that ShinRa had placed it so close to a residential area.  But then, no slum-dweller in his right mind would tamper with it, since doing so would crush the entire section of slums below.  "Of course, living down here might be enough to easily drive someone out of his right mind," Cloud thought, as he entered the slums.

            Cloud wasn't sure how exactly he would describe the slums to someone who had never been there.  Dingy didn't cut it by a long shot.  He trudged down the dirt path, taking in the squalor in which these people lived.  The houses, as they were, looked to be made of fragments of regular houses, randomly heaped together to form a structure vaguely resembling an actual home.  The plate above cut off all natural light to the area, making it perpetually dim.  Then there was the permeating stench of pollution and decay that could never escape, once again because of the huge plate which cut off the slums from respectable society.  "And to think I used to work for the corporation which would do all this," Cloud remarked to himself, looking around at the pale, sickly faces of the wretches that had obviously lived here all their lives, all watching the approach of the well-built man with the enormous sword somewhat uneasily.  He ignored them and made his way towards the bar known as Seventh Heaven.  As he approached, he heard the sounds of some sort of violence going on inside, soon followed by distinctive gunshots.  Cloud gripped his sword, prepared to draw it at a moment's notice, and broke into a run, only to be nearly bowled over by the crowd of slum-dwellers rushing out of the bar, soon followed by. . . Barret?

            "You can come back in the mornin'!  But we're takin' over for now!" shouted Barret to the fleeing crowd.  He then looked down at Cloud from the top of the steps to the bar.  "'Bout time you showed up," he said, glowering down at the mercenary.

            Cloud stared back up at him fearlessly.  "You said for us to get back individually, so someone had to be the last one.  Just so happens it was me."

            "Whatever, just get inside," said Barret irritably.  Cloud let his hand drop from his sword, and casually strolled past the enormous rebel leader and into the bar.

            So he was coming back. . . Tifa concentrated on wiping clean the glass she was holding, and forced herself to keep from peeping up at the doors to see if he was nearing.  She couldn't believe it when he just showed up at the bar a few days ago.  Her best friend from childhood, whom she hadn't seen for years, all of a sudden back in her life.  What had brought him here, of all places?  She was dying to talk to him, but she hadn't really had the chance.  Barret had accosted him and hired him for the Reactor job, and that was that.  But from what she'd seen, he seemed much different from how she'd remembered him.  As a kid, he'd always been so lively, so optimistic.  But she didn't see that now.  His blue eyes now shone with an unearthly glow, but somehow the life seemed gone from them.  It had bothered her ever since she had seen him, and she knew she needed to talk to him, to find out what was wrong.  

            "Hey Tifa, you polish that glass much more, you're gonna rub right through the side of it!" said Biggs.  "How about getting another round over here?"

            "Right, sorry," said Tifa, grabbing Biggs' and Wedge's glasses from the bar and filling them anew with 'Golden Piss', as the AVALANCHE guys affectionately called it.  Good beer of course never found its way down to the slums, so they were stuck with about the foulest, bitterest trash ever concocted.  But they still drank it like there was no tomorrow.  Tifa smiled.  Let them have it.  They had won a great victory for the planet tonight.  She placed their drinks in front of them, and they were instantly chugging the swill that Tifa never could bring herself to drink herself.  But suddenly, her attention were drawn from Biggs and Wedge as she heard the door creak open.  Her head jerked up to look at the doorway.  Cloud had returned.

            The room was dimly lit, but it was as good as daylight to the outside's perpetual night.  The bar was actually fairly small, containing only four tables along with the stool lining the front of the bar.  Wedge and Biggs sat at one of the tables, and waved at him as he entered.  He saw a cute small girl in a purple dress behind the bar ("What the hell is a girl that age doin' in a bar?") Cloud wondered), along with the barmaid, Tifa Lockheart.  Tifa was his best friend from his birthplace of Nibelheim.  A year his junior at twenty, Tifa was a pretty girl with long brown hair, bound together by a single tie at its end and flowing down her back.  She smiled brightly at him as he approached the bar.

            "Hey!" she said as he plopped down on a barstool.

            "Hey," he said, staring down at the bar.

            Tifa looked down on him sadly.  He had hardly reacted at all to her.  They had used to be best friends, hadn't they?  What was the matter with him?  What could make him act this way?  Was it her fault?

            "Jessie, Biggs and Wedge said you did a great job at the Reactor tonight," she said, smiling encouragingly.  "I think even Barret was impressed, though of course he couldn't say so."

            "It really wasn't that big a deal," Cloud said, looking up at her and shrugging.  Well, at least he was looking at her now.  "They had an antiquated robot guard and a few ShinRa troops.  That was about it.  They didn't have time to bring in any SOLDIER's or anything."

            "That robot sure sounded like a big deal from what Jessie was saying.  She said you and Barret were pretty hard put to get past it."

            "Yeah, well we got past it, didn't we?" said Cloud, somewhat angrily.  Tifa shrank back slightly.  He seemed even worse now.

            "And then you all having to race out before the Reactor blew. . ."

            "Look, I don't want to talk about it!" Cloud snarled, turning away.  Tifa recoiled in shock.  She stared down at her black dress and tried valiantly to hold in the tears.  What had she done?  She had obviously hit a sensitive subject with him.  But why would the Reactor blowing be such a big deal to him?  That was what he had been hired to do, wasn't it?  What was on his mind?

            Why the hell had she had to bring up that damn Reactor?  It was gone, and he just wanted to forget about it.  It, and the several hundred people that had disappeared with it. . .

            "Dammit!  Why didn't I say something???" Cloud thought to himself.  He hated to admit it, but Barret was right.  Innocent people had lost their lives because of him.  If he had just said something before the mission, none of this would have happened.  Barret probably would have called off the plan.  The city would still have full power, those civilians would still be alive, and he wouldn't have ShinRa after him, as they no doubt would be soon enough.  "Is the planet really worth all this?"  Cloud wondered.  All that, and these weird visions and voices. . . what the hell were they?  A lone swordsman walking away from a scene of fire and death. . .why did it have to draw a parallel to that?  That horrible massacre?

"But it's not like that at all!  It's not my fault!  It's Barret's!"

He was jerked out of his reverie by the doors bursting open.  Barret stomped in.  "Hey, Tifa," he said, nodding to her.  "Where's my lil' barmaid?"

            "Daddy!" shrieked the little girl, running from out behind the bar to hug the highest part of Barret she could reach, just above his knee.  Laughing, Barret hoisted the girl up and placed her on his shoulder.  "How you been doin', Marlene?  You been keepin' all these crazy guys in line?"

            "You bet!" she said, giggling.

            "So Barret has a daughter?  And a white one at that!  How does that work?" Cloud wondered.  "And whatever happened to his wife?  Guess Barret's got a lot of secrets, too."

            "A'ight everyone, good job out there today!" said Barret.  "That should keep the planet going for a little longer, anyway."

            "'Ere here!" slurred Biggs, raising his glass somewhat unsteadily.

            "But we ain't done yet," Barret continued.  "Not by a long shot.  Next mission's gonna be Reactor 5, bright and early tomorrow mornin'."

            "Tomorrow?!?" Biggs, Wedge, Tifa, and Cloud exclaimed as one.

            "Tha's right!" said Barret.

            "So you think you're just gonna be able to waltz in and place the bomb like tonight?" demanded Cloud.  "ShinRa's gonna put up enough security measures to stop a small army, and an army you ain't!"

            "Which is just why we gotta do it before they get a chance to put up the new security!" said Barret.  "C'mon Cloud, you know ShinRa.  Damn bureaucracy take a month to actually get anythin' done.  If we strike quick, we should be able to take out another one or even two 'fore they get their new defenses in place, ya dig?"

            Cloud sat up straight, staring Barret in the face.  "Look, ShinRa may be a sprawling bureaucracy and all, but if they just got one of their damned Mako Reactors blown up, I think they may sit up and take notice!  They're not just gonna leisurely build up defenses whenever they feel like it!"

            "This is the mission, merc!" spat Barret.  "No one said you hafta go!"  
            "Well good!  Count me out!" returned Cloud.

            "Stop it!" Tifa said.  "Look, it's been a long night for all of you.  And like you said, we won a great victory.  How about let's just celebrate that for now, and worry about the next mission in the morning?"

            "Yeah,"  "Whatever," said Cloud and Barret, eyes still locked.  Finally, Barret turned his attention back to Marlene, and Cloud back to the bar.

            "You want a drink?" Tifa asked tentatively.

            "Get me something hard."

[_Dirty minds. . ._]

            Tifa looked up at the clock on the wall.  It was 3:42 AM.  Everyone else was already fast asleep, exhausted from the mission.  Everyone except her and Cloud, who still sat at the bar.  They had hardly spoken all night.  She too wanted to go to bed, but she still had the urge to talk to Cloud.  However, she had been too tentative to bring anything up to him.  "Dammit, Tifa, you've got to talk to him!" she chided herself, but she was afraid of his reaction.  So here she was with Cloud, standing silently behind the bar like a fool.

            "Can I tell you something?" Cloud said without preamble.  Tifa's heart jumped.  "Yeah, yeah, sure," she gushed.  "What is it, Cloud?"

            "I knew those people would die," he said.

            "What are you talking about?" asked Tifa.

            He looked up, staring her straight in the eyes.  She was somewhat unnerved not by the hardness of his glance, but by the seeming helplessness behind his blue eyes.  "The innocents that were killed by the Reactor's explosion.  I knew it would be big enough to take them all out.  I knew all along, and I didn't say anything.  It's my fault.  It's all my fault."

            Tifa gasped.  Cloud continued to stare her straight in the eyes.  

            "Why. . . why didn't you tell Barret?" asked Tifa after a moment.

            "Because I was stupid," Cloud said.  "At first I figured that Barret would already knew, but then I realized that he probably wouldn't have done a thing like this without even mentioning the civilian casualties.  At that point, I just. . . I don't know. . ." he trailed off.

            Tifa felt her heart stir for Cloud at seeing him like this.  She reached out for him, but couldn't quite figure out to do with her hand.  She ended up somewhat lamely patting him on the shoulder.  "It's okay, Cloud.  You didn't want them to die, did you?"

            "I didn't want them to, but I didn't care enough to try and stop it."

            That was obviously true, and very troubling to Tifa.  What could have happened to Cloud that he would no longer care about the deaths of innocent people?  "But he does care," she thought.  "Or else he wouldn't be talking about it."  

            "Cloud, come with us on our next mission," she said suddenly.

            "Wha?" said Cloud, looking confused at the sudden change in subject.  "No, no, I can't."

            "Come on, Cloud!  It can be a way to redeem yourself."

            Cloud laughed humorlessly.  "Redemption," he muttered.

            She couldn't take it anymore.  Tifa took a deep breath, and prepared to delve into the heart of the issue.

            "Cloud, what's the matter with you?  You haven't been the same you got here.  You're nothing like you were back in Nibelheim."

            "People change, Tifa," Cloud said.

            "But not this much!" she persisted.  "You were so bright, so optimistic, so full of hope for the future, and now I see you like this.  What happened?"

            "You'd change too, if the corporation you worked for turned out to be a bunch of evil, money-grubbing bastards and your hero an murderous psychotic.

            So that was it, thought Tifa.  He was ashamed of his past since he had left Nibelheim.  "That isn't your fault, Cloud.  None of that.  All you have to be sorry for is the death of the innocents, and frankly, I think Barret would have gone through with the plan anyway.  Sure, he wouldn't have liked people dying, but in exchange for the whole planet, it's a sacrifice he would make.  That's why we're going on the mission tomorrow."

            "That's why you're going on the mission tomorrow," corrected Cloud.  "Count me out."

            "What about your promise?" asked Tifa.  Cloud stared at her blankly.  "You didn't forget, did you?" said Tifa.  

            "Promise?" said Cloud  

            "So you did forget," said Tifa dejectedly, looking down at her feet.

            "What are you talking about?" said Cloud.

            Tifa looked up, reminiscing.  "It was by the well.  You were late, and I was getting cold."

            Tifa looked around for the umpteenth time.  She was sitting alone on the wooden platform surrounding the well in a lonely corner of town.  She had already been waiting for thirty minutes or so, and she was getting cold, having nothing on but her thin turquoise dress.  Her best friend, Cloud had promised to meet her here at 7:00, but he hadn't shown up.  Should she go back?  Whatever he wanted to talk about had sounded very important; surely he wouldn't forget.  Would he. . ?

            "Hey."  Tifa swirled around.  Cloud was standing behind her, leaning up against the stone well with one hand.

            "Hey," said Tifa, relieved.  She stared up at him, waiting for him to say something, but he was silent.  He kept walking slowly past her.

            "I'm leaving tomorrow," he said without preamble, facing away from her.

            Tifa sighed as she turned away from him.  She had expected this.  "All the boys are leaving town now."

            "But I'm not like the rest of them," Cloud said quickly.  She heard his footsteps continue until the hollow reverberation of his steps on wood changed to the solid sound of stone as he climbed the steps to the top of the well.  "I'm joining SOLDIER.  I'm gonna be the best there is, just like Sephiroth!"

            "The mighty Sephiroth. . ." said Tifa quietly.  Even in a quiet village like Nibelheim she always heard about the exploits of the great SOLDIER, Sephiroth.  He was rumored to have defeated four Behemoths simultaneously with nothing more than his huge katana, along with countless other deeds of incredible prowess.  Cloud in particular always talked about Sephiroth, and was always the first to tell her of his latest victory.  She had seen this coming for a long time now.

            "Will. . .will you be in the newspapers if you make it?" Tifa asked, still with her back to Cloud.

            "Probably," he replied.

            Tifa took a deep breath, then holding her breath, leaned far back to look at him.  He certainly looked the part, standing atop the well like a balcony overlooking an entire kingdom, looking so determined and handsome.  "Promise me something," Tifa said.

            "What?" said Cloud.

            Tifa felt her heart skip several beats as she worked up the determination to go on.  "Promise me. . .if you get famous, and I'm ever in trouble, you'll come and help me, alright?"

            "Huh?" asked Cloud, confused.

            "If I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me.  I want to experience that at least once."

            "I don't know. . ." said Cloud.

            "Come on!" said Tifa, walking over to him and taking his hand.  "Promise me!"

            Cloud hesitated until she looked into his eyes, almost pleadingly.  He felt his own heart skip a beat, and knew that he could never look at her again unless he said it.  "I. . .I promise."

            They sat in silence, as they both remembered that day at the well.  They had been so young, so naïve.  "So hopeful," Cloud thought bitterly.

            "You're not in trouble," he said finally.

            "We're all in trouble!" Tifa said emotionally.  "Cloud, the planet is dying!  You were in ShinRa, you know what those reactors do!  And I know that no matter what you tell Barret, you do care about that.  Please, Cloud, join AVALANCHE!  Help us!  Help me!"

            Cloud suddenly found himself unable to face her, and looked away.  "I'm not famous.  I can't keep our promise."  He felt her take his hand, and he made the mistake of looking back at her.  She was grasping his hand and staring into his eyes earnestly just like she had so long ago.  

            "You don't have to be famous to be my hero," she whispered.  His heart stopped.

            "I. . ." he started.  "I. . ."  Tifa stared into his eyes, smiling slightly.

            "I can't." he said.  Her face fell instantly.  Cloud felt his own heart breaking at seeing his childhood friend like this.  "Tifa, I'm sorry.  I just. . .I. . ."

            "No, it's alright.  Really," she said, teary-eyed.  "We're on different paths now.  I can understand.  You just need to go your own way."

            "I'm sorry," Cloud said again, wishing for the life of him that he could do something more.  They were both silent as they heard the whirring of gears on the other side of the room.  Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud saw the broken pinball machine rise up from below the floor, carrying Barret.  The machine was actually a front for the elevator that led to AVALANCHE's secret hideout underneath the bar.  

            "Tifa, get to bed!" he said.  "I know spiky-ass's a friend o' yours an' such, but if you're comin' with us tomorrow, you need to be rested!"

            "I'm coming," she said quietly, as she started to walk towards the elevator.  Cloud watched her go, knowing that if they parted like this, things would never be the same.

            "Hey, Barret!" he said.  Barret turned to face him, glowering.  "You got the next mission lined up?"

            "Yeah, what's it to ya, merc?" he said.  "You already got your pay, what more do ya want?"

            "I'll do it for 3000," said Cloud.  Tifa's face lit up, as she rushed forward and threw her arms around him.  "Oh, thank you Cloud!" she declared, hugging him tightly.  Barret just raised an eyebrow, the most positive reaction that Cloud could expect.

            "What caused this all a sudden?" asked Barret.

            "What's it to you, terrorist?" Cloud shot back.  "Do you want me or not?"

            "Not for 3000 gil, I don't!" said Barret.  "2000!"

            "You gotta be kiddin' me!" said Cloud incredulously.  "You're givin' me barely more than for the first mission when this one's exponentially more dangerous?  Forget it!"

            "Barret!" said Tifa, running over to him.  She whispered something to him.

            "That money's for Marlene's schoolin'!" he said.  Cloud snorted.  Barret really couldn't keep quiet for the life of him.  The rebel leader turned back to him.  "2500, and don't expect any more, after all the shit you pulled today!"

            Cloud was about to retort, but he again committed the error of glancing at his friend, as she looked at him with utter happiness.  "Fine," he muttered.

            "Alright then," said Barret.  He was silent for a moment.  "Glad ta have ya back," he said, looking away.  "Okay, get to bed!" he commanded.  "And since you're workin' for me again, that goes for you too, spiky-ass!" he exclaimed before riding the pinball elevator back down below the floor.  Tifa watched the machine descend and return before turning back to Cloud.

            "Thank you so much," she said, grinning widely.

            "Hey, I never said I'd join you," Cloud said sternly.  "I'm just working with you for this mission, you got it?"

            "Whatever.  I'll take it," she said, shrugging.  "And you even got a compliment from Barret.  I'm jealous."

            "You can keep him," said Cloud, waving his arm dismissively.  "Stubborn S.O.B."

            Tifa laughed.  "Yeah, I guess he is sometimes.  Well, anyway, I'm 'glad ta have ya back' too, Cloud," she said, waving to him as she mounted the elevator and descended.  Cloud smiled and waved back, watching her slowly descend and disappear.


	5. Setting Out

Setting Out  
  
Cloud rose early in the morning. Among his many other skills in SOLDIER, he had learned to operate on very little sleep. He still wore his blue uniform and gloves from the night before, and he quickly and quietly went about gathering his other equipment without waking the others. He first found his belt, the pouches of which contained numerous healing potions, as well as a Phoenix Down, a special potion which could revive a person from near-death. He didn't count on having to use it himself, of course, but he liked to keep it around in case a comrade needed it. He put on the belt and slipped on the metal shoulder-pad which he wore over his left shoulder, though he lacked one for his dominant right arm to allow it complete mobility with his sword. He put on his boots and wrist-bands, picked up his enormous Buster Sword from its resting place near where he had lain the night before, and crept towards the elevator. The elevator was down, leaving the shaft leading to the bar above open, and instead of using the noisy elevator, Cloud leapt above it and silently climbed up the shaft to emerge up on the bar floor above.  
"Up mighty early, aren't ya?"  
Cloud spun to his left to see Barret sitting at one of the tables. His gun-arm was detached and lying on the table surface, and judging by the numerous small tools scattered around it, Cloud guessed he was cleaning it.  
"I could say the same of you," Cloud replied, casually walking across the room to where Barret was sitting.  
"Yeah, well, I actually hoped you'd be up early. Ya promised to tell me about Materia, 'member?"  
Cloud laughed. "Yeah, that's right, the mighty AVALANCHE is still clueless about Materia."  
"Shut it, merc!" Barret commanded, the anger rising in his eyes. "You're still workin' for me, and I'm orderin' you to tell me how to use the stuff!"  
Cloud sighed. "Fine," he said, sitting down in a chair next to Barret. He picked up Barret's detached Gatling Gun and examined it. After a brief moment, he found what he was looking for, and showed the weapon to Barret.  
"Alright, you see these little slots in your gun-arm?" he asked, pointing to several small circular indentations on the surface of the weapon.  
"Yeah, I always wondered about those," said Barret. "But what the hell've they got to do with Materia?"  
  
"If you'll shut up for a second, I'll tell you," said Cloud sternly. Barret glared at him furiously but fell silent."  
"That's better. Okay, now these slots are where you equip Materia."  
"You mean I just put those little crystals right into my gun?" asked Barret.  
"Either that, or you can also buy wrist-bands with Materia slots," said Cloud. He took off one of his own Iron Bangles and showed it to Barret, revealing that the band indeed had a slot identical to those in Barret's gun. "So you just put the Materia in the slots in your weapon or wrist-band to use it."  
"Well that's great, but how do you use it once it's there?" said Barret.  
"It's pretty much second nature," shrugged Cloud.  
"Second nature for you fancy-ass SOLDIERs, maybe," said Barret. "I don' even know where to start!"  
"I'm serious, it just comes to you!" said Cloud. "There's something about having the Materia so close to your hands, like it is with on your wrist or weapon (or in your case, inside your hand), that makes its use almost as intuitive as firing your gun-arm.  
"We'll see about that," said Barret. "Gimme one o' those Materia in your sword and lemme see just how easy this shit is."  
Cloud hated parting with his Materia, for any reason. Not to mention the fact that both of the Materia in his sword were Offensive Magic Materia, and so would cause great damage to the building when Barret successfully used it. Cloud suddenly remembered the Materia that he had found in the Mako reactor the day before, and drew it out. It was an emerald green, indicating that it was magical Materia that would enable the user to use a certain magical spell depending on what kind of Materia it was. Cloud focused on the gem, trying to sense what kind of energy this Materia contained. Instead of the harshness and fury of the Lightning and Ice attack Materia in his sword, this Materia emanated a calm, soothing energy.  
"Let's use this Materia instead," Cloud said, handing Barret the gem. "This is a Restore Materia. It casts a healing Cure spell, so you won't destroy whatever you use it on."  
"Wha? How'd you find out what kinda Materia this is?" asked Barret.  
"We'll get to that later," said Cloud irritably, just wanting to get this moronic tutoring session over with. "Just put this in one of the slots in your gun-arm." Barret complied, inserting the gem into one of the circular slots. The gem fit perfectly and securely into the slot, glowing slightly as it went in. Barret then took the newly equipped gun-arm and screwed it back onto the metal stub on his right arm.  
"Okay, now what?" asked Barret.  
"Now you just use it," said Cloud. "I know it sounds too simplistic, but that really is all there is to it. You just focus on the spell you want to use, then you project it at your target. It takes a little bit of practice, but that's all you really need to know"  
"This is bullshit," Barret muttered.  
"Well, then you don't have to use 'em!" snapped Cloud. "But if you plan on surviving, you'd damn well better work with me here!"  
"Yeah, whatever," said Barret.  
Cloud seethed in frustration. Teaching Barret was similar to trying to teach a brick wall by repeatedly ramming one's head into it, but he knew that he had to do what he could to ensure his client's survival, and the abilities granted by Materia certainly aided in survival. Suddenly, Cloud got an idea. Drawing his sword, he took it in his left hand and slowly ran its edge along his right arm, causing a long bloody gash.  
"What the hell you doin'?!?" Barret exclaimed.  
"I'm giving you an incentive," Cloud replied, through teeth gritted against the pain. "Like I said, that Materia casts a Cure spell to heal wounds. So you'd damn well better learn to use it soon, or else your mercenary loses his sword arm.  
"No way!" said Barret. "You're drinking a damned potion, and we're learnin' this some other way! That's an order!"  
"No. You told me to teach you, and we're doing it my way," said Cloud. You think I enjoy this any more than you do? I just cut my own fucking arm open! Now come on. Cure me."  
Barret let loose a string of profanities, but Cloud just steeled himself against the stinging pain in his arm and resisted the urge to reach for a healing potion.  
"Okay, okay," said Barret to himself. "Gotta focus, gotta focus. . ." He grew silent for once, and stared at Cloud's arm intently for a few moments. "Dammit, it ain't workin'!" he shouted in frustration.  
"Don't focus on me," hissed Cloud, trying to ignore the blood steadily dripping from his arm to the floor. "Focus on the Materia, then focus on using it on me. You're not casting the spell, the Materia is. You're just directing the energy."  
Barret nodded, raising his eyes from Cloud's wound. He closed his eyes, and Cloud waited anxiously. Suddenly, Barret rose from his chair, eyes still closed. He raised his arms in front of his face, and the gem imbedded in his Gatling Gun started glowing. He remained in that position for a moment, then leaned forward, throwing down his arms. Cloud suddenly felt the stinging in his arm replaced by a soothing, tingling sensation. Looking down at his arm, he saw the blood stop gushing out, and the wound start to seal up. In a few moments it disappeared completely. Observing the effects of the spell, Barret stood speechless.  
"Well, there you go. That's all there is to casting spells," said Cloud.  
"No shit. . ." said Barret, in awe of what he had just done. "Kinda takes it outta you, though. My mind feels a lil' scattered."  
"It'll do that," Cloud said with a nod. "Casting spells requires immense mental effort, and after a while, you just can't focus enough to use any more magic. At that point, you just have to rest for a while or drink an Ether potion to refocus your thoughts." Barret nodded.  
"Now there are five types of Materia," Cloud said. "Green Materia are Magic Materia, and are used to cast magical spells like that. Yellow are Command Materia. These don't give you actual spells, but they do give you other abilities, like sensing an enemy's abilities or using a Deathblow to deal extra damage."  
"Heh heh, I like the sound o' that one," remarked Barret.  
"Then there are red Materia, which are used to summon creatures to help you. You use 'em like Magic Materia, only instead of it just casting a spell, you'll actually disappear and by replaced by a Summon Creature."  
"Whoa, you disappear when you use 'em?" asked Barret. "I'm not likin' that!"  
"You come back as soon as the creature leaves," said Cloud, irritated. "It only stays for a brief time, usually enough time to launch one attack at your enemy or whatever you want it to do."  
"A'ight then. . ." said Barret, obviously not convinced.  
  
"Next there's purple, which are Independent Materia. These usually don't give you new abilities, but improve the ones you already have. Like they might improve your endurance or speed."  
"Got it," said Barret, nodding.  
"Finally there are blue Materia, which are Support. These don't do anything on their own, but are used in conjunction with other Materia to improve their effects."  
"Huh? Whaddaya mean?" demanded Barret. "How do they improve 'em?"  
"It depends on the Independent Materia," said Cloud. "One of the most common is an All Materia. When you hook an All Materia up with a Magic Materia, it lets you cast the Magic Materia's spell on multiple targets."  
"Hey, not bad!" exclaimed Barret. "So if I had an All Materia with this healin' one, then I could heal all of us at once?"  
"Or attack all your enemies at once if you had it attached to an attack Materia," agreed Cloud.  
"A'ight, I got it!" said Barret.  
"So what do red Materia do?" asked Cloud, quizzing him.  
"Red? Uh. . .um. . .shit, I don't know! That's a lot o' crap to memorize at once!" said Barret. "I'm lettin' you take care of the Materia for this mission."  
"Whatever," said Cloud. At least Barret knew how to use it now. "Do the other AVALANCHE members know how to use Materia?"  
"Yes," said a voice from behind him. Cloud turned to see Tifa standing next to the elevator. Her black dress from the previous evening was gone, replaced by a tight white T-shirt, rather skimpy tan shorts, lightweight brown boots, and a bulky pair of fighter's gloves. Cloud raised an eyebrow at how much this rather modest girl was willing to reveal. But then, her looks certainly left her nothing to be ashamed of. She was thin, but Cloud could now see that she was fairly muscular, and he could certainly see her being as good a fighter as Jessie had proclaimed.  
"Didn' know you were up," said Barret.  
"A stuffed Moogle couldn't sleep through all the racket you were making," teased Tifa. "As always. Hey, are you two all right?" she asked, eying the puddle of fresh blood on the floor.  
"Yeah, fine," said Barret. "So we ready?"  
"You bet," said Tifa, still somewhat worried.  
"Whoa, what about the other three?" asked Cloud.  
"They're staying behind this time," said Tifa. "We're taking a slightly different approach for this mission."  
Cloud just stared. "So you're telling me we're takin' down another Mako reactor the very day after we bombed the first one, and with half the manpower???"  
"Yep," said Barret. "Course that won't matter for a big-shot SOLDIER like you, right?"  
"I'm good, not suicidal,! countered Cloud.  
"Boys!" said Tifa. Cloud and Barret stopped and turned towards her. She sighed, shaking her head. "Cloud, we're not just going in the front door this time. We've got another way in, a more secret one."  
"It'd better be," Cloud muttered.  
"It is!" exclaimed Barret. "Now if you're finished complainin', pansy-boy, you ready to take down another reactor?"  
"Pansy boy?" said Cloud, staring up at Barret in a challenge. Barret advanced until they were standing chest to chest, just as before at the first reactor.  
"BOYS!" shouted Tifa. They again turned to her. "Barret, behave yourself! Cloud, stop challenging your leader! I don't want to have to keep being your mother, especially when I'm the youngest of all of us!"  
"Yeah, a'ight. I'll try and stop," said Barret. "Don't mean you ain't a pansy, though."  
"Whatever," said Cloud crossing his arms. Tifa sighed again. It was going to be a long day.  
  
After locking the place up, the trio set out from the bar, Barret leading the way. He started to make for the train station, but Cloud stopped him from behind.  
"Hey, Barret, do you have any stores around here? You know, with equipment or Materia or anything?"  
"You kiddin'? Materia down here?" said Barret. "We got a general store, and that's it."  
"Well, let's take a look around anyway," said Cloud. "It may at least have some wrist-bands to give you two some extra Materia slots."  
"Yeah, my gloves don't have any slots," said Tifa from behind.  
"Dammit, I don't wanna be wastin' time!" said Barret. "We got a reactor to blow!"  
"How far is the store?" asked Cloud.  
Barret sighed. "That's it, right over there," he said. The building to which he pointed gave Cloud the impression of a house of cards that would fall if he blew on it. It seemed to be three distinct buildings simply stacked on top of each other to form an incredibly precarious- looking tower of trashy construction. His hopes fell. "Well, let's just take a look," he said. They walked over to the odd building and entered through the door on the near side. They found themselves in a narrow, dimly lit room consisting of a narrow walkway leading to a target practice sheet, with a counter at one side. There was a young boy firing off rounds from a handgun into the target, and a fat, dirty looking man lounged behind the counter.  
"I don't think so," said Cloud. "Let's get outta here."  
"He-hey!" said the store owner, leaping up suddenly. "Waitaminute, you! Ya can't just walk out without buying something." He smiled darkly. "Might be unhealthy for ya, if ya know what I mean." The boy turned around to face the three, and Cloud saw that he had his gun trained on him. Rolling his eyes, Cloud lashed out with his foot at the boy, hitting him square in the chest. He crumpled over with a cry and dropped the gun, which Cloud retrieved before turning back to the man. The store owner gulped nervously.  
"Now, we're looking for wrist-bands like these," said Cloud, raising his hand to show the owner his Iron Bangle. "Do you have any?"  
"Yeah, we got a few. Never really sell that many, seems like pretty ugly jewelry to me," said the owner. "I'll show you what we got." He disappeared for a moment beneath the counter to emerge with a handful of bands identical to Cloud's.  
"Okay, here we go," said Cloud. "Any of you want 'em?"  
"Ah, what the hell, I'll take one," said Barret.  
"I don't have any slots for Materia yet, so I'll take two," said Tifa.  
"Three, eh?" said the store owner. "That'll be 480 gil."  
Tifa and Barret reached into their pockets and produced the money, which they gave to the owner. He grinned toothily before handing them the Bangles. "Thank ya very much," he said. Cloud nodded and turned away, but realized he was still holding the boy's gun. He turned back and tossed it to the boy at the other end of the room, still recovering from the blow. "Next time you try and threaten someone, make sure he isn't ex-SOLDIER," Cloud said. He enjoyed the faces of the two gaping in shock at him before he turned and walked out with Tifa and Barret.  
  
A short walk later they found themselves back on the train, heading once again for Upper Midgar. The train manager blanched upon seeing the three enter the train. "What's wrong wit' you?" asked Barret.  
"Me? Nothing, nothing at all sir," said the manager, slightly shakily. Barret was about to back off, but then he noticed the other passengers in the train filtering out the doors into the other cars. "What's the matter with them?" he said. "'Ey, I asked you a question!" he said to the manager. "Why they leavin' all the sudden?"  
"I. . .I don't know, sir," said the manager, turning slightly pale.  
"I think ya do. Why they leavin'???"  
"I think. . .if you'll pardon me saying so, that they're leaving because. . .well, because of you, sir."  
"Me?" said Barret. What the hell's wrong with me??? I think I'm a great guy!"  
"Well, it's just that. . .that ShinRa predicted that there may be more terrorist attacks like the one last night soon, and. . .well, people didn't feel comfortable around someone such as yourself, with such a large weapon and all, after a warning like that. Sir."  
"Well, seems like ShinRa has predicted this," remarked Cloud quietly.  
"Dammit, don' be so calm! You're bustin' up my rhythm!" said Barret.  
"He's right, Barret," Tifa said, pulling him aside. "If ShinRa issued a warning like that, they must be expecting attacks soon. We can't risk it!"  
"That and the civilian casualties," said Cloud. "You know there will be those, right?"  
Barret grimaced. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said. "But for the life of the entire planet, that's a sacrifice that we gotta make."  
"But what about the warning?" persisted Tifa. "They'll surely have done something for their defenses, maybe even laid a trap for us!"  
Barret opened his mouth to respond, but as he did, the train groaned underneath them and started to lurch forward, leaving the Sector 7 slums. "Well, it's too late now," said Barret. "We're on this train, and there's only one way we're gettin' off. And that's in the tunnel near the maintenance shaft."  
"Huh?" said Cloud, clueless as to what Barret was talking about.  
"Oh, that's right, we never told ya about the plan, did we?" said Barret.  
"Uh, no!" said Cloud. He was growing weary of this two-bit rebel outfit.  
"A'ight, here's what we're doin'," said Barret, keeping an eye on the manager to make sure he didn't hear anything. "In the train tunnel near the reactor, there's a lil' shaft that'll lead us to the reactor. We just jump outta the train, slip through that shaft, and we're in!"  
"So your plan involves jumping out of a moving train?" said Cloud in disbelief.  
"Tha's what I said, isn't it?" said Barret. Cloud just shook his head.  
"It isn't as bad as it sounds," said Tifa. "The train will already be slowing down to stop at the Reactor station. We'll be able to make it."  
Cloud sighed. How had he ever let himself be suckered into this? It was seeing Tifa in such a miserable state the night before. "Dammit!" he thought, chastising himself for being so easily manipulated. He no longer felt any sympathy for her or for her cause. He just wanted to get this mission over with, get his pay, and get out. "Great, fine, whatever. Let's just do it," he said.  
"Hold it, merc!" said Barret. "That ain't 'till the end o' the ride."  
"Oh, so I get to enjoy your scintillating company until then. Wonderful," remarked Cloud. "Just wake me when we get there." He sat down in a nearby chair and leaned back against the window, trying to ignore the idiotic presence of his two "comrades." Why the hell was he doing this? He was so much better than either of them! He shouldn't be working for some amateur terrorist outfit. He should be with a respectable, powerful organization. Like SOLDIER. . .  
"You quit that for a reason," Cloud reminded himself. "They work for ShinRa, and ShinRa's a bunch of soulless bastards out to destroy the planet." So don't work for these worthless terrorists. Go it alone. Well, it was too late for that, at any rate. Like Barret said, there was only one way off this train before the stop at the Sector 5 Reactor, and that was by jumping.  
"Yo, merc!"  
Cloud opened his eyes. Barret was looming above him, glaring.  
"What?" replied Cloud irritably.  
"Whaddaya mean, what? It's time, that's what, dumbass!"  
"Time already?" asked Cloud. He didn't even remember falling asleep. It had seemed like he had just sat down, but Barret was hardly the type joke around, so he got up and followed the huge man and Tifa down the car in the opposite direction from the rest of the passenger cars, once again garnering nervous glances from the train manager. They exited the car into the cargo car where AVALANCHE had all congregated after the bombing the night before. "We'll be able to make the jump without bein' seen here," explained Barret. He moved over to the heavy steel door and effortlessly slid it open with his single functional hand. Outside, the fluorescent lights of the tunnel flew by at a blinding speed. He could feel the train shudder as the brakes were applied, but the sense of velocity was still incredible.  
"Actually, this is kind of scary," remarked Tifa, staring out at the quickly passing landscape.  
"Well, it's a little late to be saying that now!" snapped Cloud. "Why'd you come along, anyway?"  
"Because. . ." Tifa trailed off.  
"Yo, come on! Which one o' you's gonna be first?" said Barret.  
"You're the badass leader, aren't you?" said Cloud coolly. "Why don't you show us how it's done?"  
Barret fumed. "Have it your way, pansy-ass," he said, and faced the open portal. He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. "YAAAAAAH!" he yelled as he leapt from the train. Cloud looked at Tifa, who stared at him concernedly. "Be careful!" she said. Without a word he turned back and immediately leapt out of the train to the tracks below.  
  
Don't expect all the updates so soon. I just got on a roll. Yeah, so I left out Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. They didn't really do anything in the second mission anyway. Just kinda told you where to go, and then evacuated. Not too big a loss, I figure. They'll be back. As far as Materia, I know it made for a kinda slow chapter, but I won't be making such a big deal out of Materia later, anyway. Though it did play a big part in the plot, and still will, its main purpose was gameplay, which obviously isn't an issue in a story. So don't expect detailed explanations of each character's Materia set-up at every point. Plus a lot of Materia grants abilities that characters would realistically already have, such as Throw, Cover, and Steal. Deathblow too, maybe, but I couldn't bear to part with Barret's comment when Cloud mentions it. Okay, explanatory rant over. Reviews, anyone? 


	6. AVALANCHE's Second Mission

AVALANCHE's Second Mission

            Cloud flew through the air as he plummeted from the train.  Instinctively, he curled himself up into a ball as he dropped, and a split second later he hit the tracks, bouncing several times along the hard ground as the train's momentum carried him forward until he finally rolled to a stop.  He slowly stood up and examined himself.  He was certainly beaten up, but seemed more or less uninjured.  He looked back down the track, and saw Barret approaching.  He too looked intact, but Cloud guessed a man of Barret's stature could withstand a howitzer blast without serious damage.  He looked back the other way in time to see Tifa's jump.  She too rolled into a ball before impact, but instead of bouncing haphazardly along the ground as did Cloud, she landed fairly squarely and immediately leapt up, doing a quick series of backwards handsprings until she defeated the incredible momentum that she had from the train, and came to a stop.  She then started to walk back towards the other two, and they all met where Cloud was standing.

            "We all alright?" asked Barret.

            "I'm fine.  How about you, Cloud?" said Tifa.  Cloud just nodded.

            "Damn badass like always," Barret remarked, staring at the mercenary disdainfully.

            "Just tell me what's next," said Cloud.  

            "Alright, now we gotta find the maintenance shaft.  Should be down this way," Barret said, gesturing in the opposite direction from that of the train's movement.  Cloud and Tifa nodded, and they walked in silence through the dark subway tunnel, lit only by the occasional blinding fluorescent light installed for the engineers whenever repairs were necessary.  "They're gonna need some pretty heavy repairs by the time we're done," Cloud thought wryly to himself.  

            "The hell?  This can't be it!"  Barret had stopped, and was staring at a rectangular hole in the side of the tunnel, leading downwards.  Cloud immediately saw his point.  The shaft was tiny, only about four feet in width.  It would be fairly snug for Tifa and Cloud, not to mention the enormous Barret.

            "Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we?" said Cloud.  "This is the only way in, unless you care to run up to the front entrance of the reactor and fight your way through a hundred ShinRa troops that they've no doubt stationed there."

            "I'd prefer that to this!" said Barret.  "I ain't never fittin' in there!  And who even knows where it leads?  Looks like it goes to some furnace or somethin'!"

            "Barret, come on!  Cloud's right, we don't have any other option!" said Tifa.  "This is the plan, so we have to go through with it."

            Barret stared down into the impenetrable darkness of the shaft.  "Dammit!" he swore.  "Fine, but this time you're goin' first, spiky-ass!"

            "Fearless leader afraid to go in first?" Cloud said.

            "THAT'S AN ORDER!!!" yelled Barret.  Cloud shrugged, and without a further word climbed into the shaft.

            Despite the fact that it appeared to lead into the Abyss, the shaft ended relatively soon, and Cloud soon fell down into what appeared to be a narrow ventilation shaft, about as wide as the previous one had been.  He called back up the shaft for the other two to follow, then surveyed his surroundings.  Behind him, the shaft soon shot upwards.  There was no way they could advance in that direction.  On the other hand, in the other direction, the shaft dropped off directly downwards.  He crawled over and peeked down.  The shaft soon curved forward, preventing him from seeing where it led.  

            Cloud heard a metallic clank, soon followed by a twice-as-loud thud, signaling Tifa and Barret's arrival, respectively.

            "What's with the tight spaces?!?  Damn!!!" said Barret.

            "Looks like this shaft down is the only way to go," said Cloud, unable to turn to face his comrades due to the tight quarters.

            "Man, I don' like this shit!  Freakin' me out!" declared Barret.  "Jus' feels like this is gonna get narrower and narrower 'till we got nowhere to go!"

            "Have you got a better idea, El Capitain?" snapped Cloud.  "There are three ways out of this shaft, and two of them are upwards.  If you can come up with a good way of climbing a smooth metallic shaft without a rope or ladder, then let me know!  Otherwise, this is it!"

            Barret swore, but said no more.  Cloud looked down the shaft again.  He hated to admit it, but he shared Barret's fears.  There was no telling where this shaft led, or indeed if it would stay wide enough to accommodate them.  If not, that was it.  He would have no room to use his sword to cut them out.  To be stuck in a cramped metal tomb with Barret. . .Cloud suppressed a shudder and dropped down the shaft.

            This shaft did not end quite so quickly as its predecessor.  Cloud soon found himself shooting down the slide-like shaft, with no clue as to where it would end.  He cursed quietly to himself.  Cursed Barret, cursed AVALANCHE, cursed himself for being stupid enough to work for them.  Behind him, he could hear Barret shouting out curses himself.  Cloud thought for a moment of extending his limbs against the walls of the tunnel to stop his fall, and possibly trying to climb back up, but then realized that Barret would immediately plow right through him like a cannonball.  It seemed that he had been right; the only way to go was down.  He gritted his teeth as he felt himself gaining acceleration, going faster and faster to whatever awaited him at the bottom of this deathtrap.  He should've known better than to agree to this.  Now here he was, speeding to his doom.  Even if he did survive whatever landing came after going at such high speeds, he had 300 pounds of Barret to squash him a few moments later.  

  
            _You can't die this way.  You have a great destiny ahead of you._

            "Cloud!"

             "Huh?"

            Cloud blinked repeatedly.  He was lying prone at the bottom of a long chute, in a room that appeared to be identical to the huge room in the previous reactor with numerous stairways and ramps leading all over.  Tifa leaned over him, with a concerned look in her eyes, while Barret towered above looking around, keeping an eye out for guards.

            "Are you all right?" asked Tifa.

            "What. . .what happened?"

            "You must've hit your head or something, because when we came down behind you here, you were unconscious for a few seconds."

            "So that vent shaft led to that chute?" Cloud asked, looking up at the chute extending far upwards and through the wall."

            "You don't remember at all?" said Tifa worriedly.

            "I remember going down that second shaft," said Cloud, holding his head.  "But not much after that."

            "Cloud, I. . ."

            "Hey, you two, there ain't no time for that!" said Barret, turning to them.  "We gotta get movin' and get to the center of this damn reactor!"

            Cloud rose to his feet, ignoring Tifa's proffered hand to help him up.  "Let's do it."

            A quiet trek through surroundings more or less identical to those of the previous reactor and they were at the reactor core.  Cloud suddenly remembered something.  Drawing his sword, he withdrew one of the green Materia from it, its soft glow disappearing as it left its socket.  He offered it to Tifa.

            "What's this?" she asked.

            "Bolt," he responded simply.  "This is where Barret and I fought the Guard Scorpion last time, and robots are weak against lightning power.  If another robot attacks us, you just blast the shit out of it with Bolts, and Barret and I will take care of the rest."

            "Damn right," said Barret, stroking his Gatling Gun.  Tifa nodded, looking slightly nervous, but inserted the gem into one of her Iron Bangles, where it resumed its glow.

            "You got the bomb?" Cloud asked Barret.

            "Right here," Barret said, reaching into a pocket and tossing the bomb to Cloud.  Cloud caught it deftly and approached the reactor core before collapsing to the catwalk.

            "Papa. . ."

            Cloud raised his head from the catwalk.  Tifa had somehow passed him to crouch in front of him.  But something was different.  In fact, everything was different.  The reactor appeared to be an older model, with antiquated gear and chain driven machines clanking all over the place.  There was also a door leading into the core, which was absent on the newer models.  Cloud then noticed that not only was the reactor of a different time, but so was Tifa.  She appeared much younger, only a young teenager.  She wore a similar shirt, but with brown cargo pants and a large floppy hat.  She kneeled on the floor crying.  Next to her there lay an enormously long katana.

            "Sephiroth, SOLDIER, Mako Reactors, ShinRa. . .I HATE THEM ALL!!!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face.  Wiping her face, she picked up the katana and sprinted into the very heart of the reactor.

            "Damn, man!  Get a hold of yourself!!!"

            Cloud was back in the present day reactor, with Barret looming over him glaring, and Tifa bent over him, looking worried.

            "Tifa. . ."

            "Hm?" she said softly.

            "No. . .forget it," he said, leaping to his feet.

            "Cloud, are you all right?" Tifa asked.

            "'Course I am.  Let's just get this over with."  He grabbed the bomb from where he had dropped it and was about to plant it on the reactor, but hesitatated.  "Hey Barret," he said.  "How long did you set this bomb for, anyway?"

            "Heh,' said Barret.  "Longer than last time, don' worry 'bout that.  We'll have plenty o' time to get outta here."

            "Good," said Cloud, and planted the bomb without further question, pressing the button to activate it when he was finished.  It beeped, and Cloud turned, waiting for the attack.  But no one emerged.

            "Hey, alright!" exclaimed Barret.  "No guards, no frickin' Scorpions, looks good!"

            "It looks like we did it!" said Tifa.  Cloud nodded, saying nothing.  He still had a bad feeling about this.

            The trio retraced their steps until they reached the large room through which they entered.  Stopping, they looked around, surveying what to do next.

            "Ain't no way, we're gettin' back up that slide," said Barret, staring up at the extensive length of chute.

            "Well then, what do we do?" asked Tifa fearfully.  "The only other way out is the front door, right?  And that's where ShinRa's waiting for us!"

            "What 'bout you, big-shot SOLDIER?" said Barret.  "Don't s'pose you know o' any other ways outta this place?"  
            Cloud thought silently for a moment, mentally running through all the Mako reactors he had been through in the course of his duty for ShinRa.  "Newer model reactor, identical to all the other ones in Midgar, should have. . ."

            "Yes," he said finally.  Barret and Tifa turned anxiously to him.  "There's a secret button in the elevators that only high-level Reactor engineers are supposed to know about.  Of course, SOLDIER's are privy to their share of secret info too, so. . ."

            "Get to the damn point!" demanded Barret.  "What's the button do???"

            Cloud glanced at Barret in annoyance, but continued.  "The button takes the elevator past the normal stop, all the way to the top of the reactor.  After an incident with the exhaust system of one of the older reactors, the engineers installed a series of catwalks at the top of newer models so that they could monitor the reactor from above.  These catwalks have a system of ladders and stairs that lead all the way down to the back of the reactor."

            "Alright, Cloud!" said Tifa, looking at him with admiration.

            "Hold it!" said Barret.  "ShinRa's gonna know about this back way too!  Who says it won' be guarded?"  
            "They know, and we know, but they might not know we know," said Cloud.  "They think you're just some two-bit rebel outfit, right?  They probably don't know you have an ex-SOLDIER on your side, who would know about this exit."  Despite his encouraging words, Cloud still felt bad about this mission.  Why had they been immediately attacked after placing the bomb in the last mission, but even now had yet to see any trouble?

            "Hmm, you might be right," said Barret.  "Not like we got much of a choice, anyway.  Alright, let's hit it!" he said, leading the trio in a charge up the series of stairways to the elevator on the upper level of the room.  They all stepped inside, and Cloud looked around.  After a moment, he found what he was looking for: a small metal panel which blended in with the rest of the chamber, totally unremarkable.  He flipped open the panel to reveal a single orange button.  He mashed the button, and the elevator started its ascent to the very top of the reactor that was ticking down to its demise.

            As soon as the elevator doors slid open, the three sprinted out into a small room filled with alien devices and machines.  At the other end of the room was a metal door, presumably the exit.  Barret ran up to it, but found it to be soundly sealed.  "Damn door won' open!" he exclaimed.  Cloud gestured to one of the machines, with three identical buttons.  "Yeah, it's a weird security system they installed," he remarked.  "We have to hit these three buttons at exactly the same. . ."  He was cut off by the sound of gunfire.  He turned to see Barret firing his gun-arm into the door, which shuddered under the impact.  After a few rounds, he lifted a massive foot and kicked the door, which flew off its hinges into the air outside.  "You say somethin'?" asked Barret.  Cloud just shook his head, and they made their escape from the reactor onto a metal catwalk far above the earth.  Barret made the mistake of looking down.  

            "DAMN, man!" he exclaimed.  "You tellin' me we've gotta climb ladders and stairs and shit all the way down there?"

            "You got a better idea?" Cloud asked smugly.  Barret growled but said nothing, and they made for the end of the catwalk and the first ladder down, Barret in lead, followed by Tifa, and finally Cloud.  The catwalk veered to the right, and they approached the ladder at its end, only to be met by a series of ShinRa soldiers climbing up the ladder.  

            "SHIT!  What the hell's goin' on?!?" Barret exclaimed.  Cloud prepared to cast an Ice spell on the soldiers, but he looked down, and saw about 50 troops positioned on the structure below, all aiming rifles at them.  "A trap," he muttered.  His suspicions had been right; it was too quiet inside the reactor, because all the guards had been sent to intercept them here.

            "No way I'm goin' down like this!" said Barret, taking aim at the three soldiers, but Tifa grabbed his arm, restraining him.  

            "Barret, there's no way," she said quietly.  Grudgingly, Barret lowered his gun.  

            "You all have been quite busy, haven't you?"

            The three whirled around to face the voice coming from the direction of the reactor.  Splendidly clad in a fine maroon suit and tie and with a fancy cigar in his mouth, approaching them was none other than. . .

            "President ShinRa???" said Cloud.

            "Wha???" said Barret.

            "Why is the President here?" echoed Tifa.

            The short, pudgy man grinned slightly, taking a luxurious drag on his cigar.  Barret growled beside Cloud.  "You must be that rebel group. . .what was it?"

            "AVALANCHE!  An' don' you forget it!" yelled Barret.  "So you're the Prez, huh?"

            "Indeed I am."

            "Long time no see, President," said Cloud, staring fixedly at the President.

            "Long time no see?" the President repeated, confused for a moment.  

            "I used to work for you, I'm sorry to say," said Cloud.

            The president stared confusedly for a moment, then realization crossed his face.  "Oh. . .you.  You used to be with SOLDIER, right?  I think I remember that sword of yours.  Of course, your eyes clearly show that you've been exposed to Mako.  Tell me, traitor, what was your name again?"

            "Strife.  Cloud Strife," said Cloud, clenching a fist.

            "Strife, right," said the President, nodding.  "Forgive me, but I can't be expected to remember each employee's name.  Unless, of course, you had ended up becoming another Sephiroth.  Ah, Sephiroth. . ." he said, a far-off look in his eyes.  "Yes, there was a brilliant SOLDIER. . .too brilliant, as it turned out.  He was our. . ."

            "Shut up!!!" commanded Barret, glaring with hatred at the suited man.  "Don't give a damn 'bout none o' that!  All I know's that this place is goin' up in flames soon!  Serves y'all right!"

            "Such a waste. . ." remarked President ShinRa, shaking his head in mock sadness.  "Such a waste of good fireworks to get rid of vermin like you."

            "Huh?" thought Cloud.  AVALANCHE was the one with the "fireworks", weren't they?  What was the President talking about?  He and Tifa shared a quick glance, and he could tell that the same thought was running through her head.  Barret's mind, however, was on a different track.

            "VERMIN?!?" screamed Barret.  "You ShinRa are the fuckin' vermin, killin' the planet just so you can wear your fancy suits and smoke your damn cigars!  Guess that makes you King Vermin!  So shu' up, jackass!"

            The President sighed, looking at his watch.  "You are beginning to bore me," he remarked, and snapped his fingers.  Within moments, the sound of helicopter rotors was clearly audible, and a helicopter approached from above the reactor.  Below the chopper was attached some sort of machine.  "Forgive me, but I am a very busy man.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important dinner to attend."

            "DINNER?!?" yelled Barret incredulously.  "Don't gimme none o' that, I ain't even started with you yet!!!"

            "Oh, don't worry," the President said nonchalantly.  "I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all."  He snapped his fingers again, and the helicopter rose to directly above the three.  Suddenly, the machine below the helicopter was dropped, right on top of the group, and Cloud had to dive backwards to avoid being crushed.  The vehicle halted to hover a foot or so off the catwalk, in between the now split group, Tifa and Barret on one side, and Cloud alone on the other.  It was a large, brown robot, with multiple cannons visible on its chassis.  

            "Meet "Airbuster," a techno-soldier created by our Weapons Development Department," said the President, gesturing at the robot.  "I'm sure the data he extracts from your dead bodies will be of great use to our future experiments.  Now then, if you'll excuse me."  The President gestured to the helicopter, and it immediately flew over to right next to him.  He waved casually as he stepped aboard, and the vehicle departed, flying off into the blue sky.  

            "DAMMIT!" screamed Barret, firing his Gatling Gun in vain after the helicopter.  

            "Um, Barret, I think we've got bigger things to worry about. . ." said Tifa, staring at the Airbuster as it started to whir and clank.  "Didn't the President say this was from SOLDIER?" asked Tifa.

            "No way!  SOLDIER was all humans; this thing's just a machine," replied Cloud from the other side of the Airbuster.

            "I don' care what it is, I'm gonna bust its fuckin' head!" yelled Barret, letting loose a barrage of bullets from his gun-arm.  The robot shuddered under the impacts, but immediately counterattacked, flying forward to ram into Barret.  He flew backwards, grunting.  The machine turned its attention to Tifa, who was now cowered against the side of the narrow catwalk, trapped by the machine.  Cursing, Cloud drew his sword and leapt forward, slashing the robot across its back.  The robot's metal carapace screeched in protest as the Buster Sword tore through it.  "Tifa, use the Lightn. . . ARGH!" he yelled, as the machine again counterattacked, this time with a machine gun at point-blank range.

            "Cloud!" Tifa screamed as her friend flew back from the impact of the bullets.  Then she realized what he had meant by what he had said.  "The Lightning Materia he gave me. . .the Bolt spell!" she thought.  She focused on the Materia in her wrist-band, and felt its energies flowing through her.  "Stay away from him, you bastard machine," she thought.  "BOLT" she screamed shrilly, and a bolt of lightning tore forth from her hands into the machine.  The Airbuster started to rock violently, the energy rippling through its internal systems, but soon overcame the shock to bear down on her again.  It rotated slightly to take aim at her with one of its cannons.  Desperately, Tifa leapt into the air, lashing out with her foot in a drop kick.  It worked – the kick moved the robot just enough that its shot missed.  It didn't do much damage, however, and the robot once again advanced.  

            "YeeeeEEAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!"  Barret was back up, and charged towards the machine, firing his gun-arm all the way.  The robot stopped to process this new threat.  Barret just kept coming, and finally threw himself into the robot, knocking it away from Tifa.  Barret didn't back off, however, but used his one good hand to latch onto the Airbuster, firing his Gatling Gun point-blank range into it.  The bullets ripped through its body, tearing up its electronic innards.  Barret knew that no damn machine could take much of this.  The Airbuster, however, didn't intend to take much.  Barret felt it lifting up into the air, only to shoot back down to the metal grating.  Tifa gasped as she saw Barret, still holding onto the bottom of the machine, shooting down straight for her.

            Cloud climbed back to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain of the gunshots.  He'd had worse, but he still didn't enjoy small pieces of metal tearing through his flesh.  He intended to pay the machine by tearing through it with a somewhat larger piece of metal, namely, his enormous sword.  But he was left helpless to stop the machine's current attack.  It slammed into the catwalk, slamming  both Tifa and Barret, then continued to press down, slowly crushing them.

            "ICE!" shouted Cloud, and the extreme cold of the spell hit the machine, freezing several vital systems.  The machine immediately rose from Tifa and Barret to focus on the third opponent.  It promptly fired a machine gun in retalitation, but Cloud was ready this time, and quickly dodged to the side, laughing.  "That all you got?" he demanded.  "THEN HAVE SOME OF THIS!" Taking his sword in hand, he tensed his body, feeling the incredible energies that only a Limit Break could bring.  Setting his teeth in determination, he leapt inhumanly high into the air.  As he reached the apex of his leap, he raised his arms above his head, preparing for his attack.  He then shot down, straight for the Airbuster.  Just as he reached the robot, he brought his sword forward in an enormously powerful overhead hack, multiplied in force by the momentum of his fall.  The Buster Sword tore straight through the Airbuster, finally delivering critical damage to the machine.  The machine rocked for a second, then exploded, taking out a section of the catwalk with it.  The section on which Cloud stood.

            Cloud fell through the air, the ground taken right out from under him.  Desperately, he grasped out and grabbed onto an intact section of the catwalk, and dangled there, helpless.  The weakened catwalk screeched, starting to curve down under his weight, but it held.

            "Cloud!" he heard Tifa scream.  He looked around to see her and Barret rushing forward, but unable to reach him due to the large missing section of catwalk.  "Barret, can't we do something?" she asked.

            "Not a damn thing," he said.  "Cloud, you gonna be alright?"

            "What the hell do you think?" Cloud thought angrily.  He was hanging onto a section of catwalk that was any moment in danger of falling off under his weight, helpless to do anything to help himself.  "Barret. . ." he said, looking seriously at the rebel leader.  "Take care of Tifa."  Barret nodded solemnly.

            "What?!?  No!!!" screamed Tifa.  "Cloud, please don't die!  You can't die!" she protested tearfully.  "There's still so much I have to tell you!"

            He looked at Tifa, crying desperately to him, but this time there was nothing he could do.  He couldn't even help himself, much less her.  But Barret would take care of her.  He could trust him for that, anyway.  Closing his eyes, Cloud released his hold on the catwalk, plummeting down into the abyss, waiting for the contact with the cruel Midgar plate far below.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_To Neko-Underworld: OW!  I've been hit by plenty a frying-pan in my day (less of a lie than one might think), but that's up with the best of 'em!  Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that fellow FFVII novelist Neko-Underworld is a GREAT, GREAT PERSON FOR ALLOWING ME ACCESS TO THE SLAVISHLY-PRODUCED SCRIPT!  No, really, thanks a lot._


	7. Internal Dialogue 1

Internal Dialogue # 1

_Didn't turn out so well, did it?_

"Huh?" thought Cloud.

_You're wasting your time with these games._

"You call that a game?!?  I died!"

_Don't be stupid.  You can't die.  Not yet._

"Why not?"

_I told you, you have a great destiny ahead of you.  It would hardly be fitting for you to die after some petty terrorist insurrection._

"Petty?  We blew up a Mako reactor!"

_And they think that's enough to save the Planet.  Fools._

"Who are you?"

_You don't remember?  Well, I'm sure we'll get reacquainted sometime soon._

"What the hell are you talking about?!?  Who are you???"

_Wake up, Cloud…_

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  Yeah, that was kinda stupid that big ex-SOLDIER Cloud couldn't do a single pull-up.  I considered saying that his arms were too tired from using that frickin' huge sword of his, but instead I decided to say that the catwalk he was hanging onto was about to fall off anyway.  My big problem is how he survives the million story fall, but what'cha gonna do?

Stratadrake: Concerning your breaking-up paragraphs advice, I certainly see what you mean, but this stupid site screws around with my stories.  Doesn't give me italics, sometimes breaks up paragraphs where it's not supposed to, and vice-versa.  But I'll see what I can do.


	8. Flowers Blooming in the Church

Flowers Blooming in the Church

"Hello? Hello!"

"Dammit, who…" But Cloud stopped when he saw the light streaming through the pitch-blackness which had surrounded him. Slowly, painfully, he opened his eyes, and was nearly blinded by an intense burst of sunlight. Groaning, he managed to bring a hand up to block the blinding light. "I…can move…good sign," he muttered to himself.

"Oh, you're moving!" said the voice. It wasn't the same voice from before, yet it still sounded very familiar. Cloud turned his weak eyes to the source of the voice, and was able to see a blurry outline of a person bending down over him. "Are you okay?" asked the person.

"Where…where am I?" Cloud managed, eyes starting to water from the unrelenting light.

"A church in the Sector 5 slums," said the person. The outline started to solidify, and the figure looked vaguely familiar. "Where the hell have I seen her before?" Cloud thought.

"I was just here tending the flowers, and all of a sudden you came crashing down," continued the woman. "Gave me quite a scare, as you can imagine. But what am I doing complaining? You're the one who fell through the roof! Are you sure you're all right?"

"Think so…" said Cloud, suddenly realizing that besides some understandable soreness, he didn't feel very bad at all. He couldn't sense any severe injuries at all. He should be dead from falling that far, yet he felt fine. "H…how?" he said.

"Well, I borrowed your Restore Materia to cast a Cure spell on you," said the girl. "I hope you don't mind." Cloud laughed quietly. As if he would object to someone using his Materia to save his life. Suddenly, another thought came to him. "How did I fall all the way down to the slums?" he asked, staring up at the solidifying, but still unidentifiable girl leaning over him. "I should've hit the plate."

"Someone must have been looking out for you," said the girl. "You just happened to fall right through one of the only holes in the plate, and fell right through the hole in the roof of the church to land on these flowers. They broke your fall."

Well, that explained how the sunlight had gotten through the plate all the way down to the slums. But still…

"How did I survive a fall like that long enough for her to Cure me, anyway?" Cloud wondered, and was about to ask, but then he suddenly remembered something. She had said the flowers broke his fall. He had never known of flowers to be in Midgar except for… He looked up at the figure, squinting. The blurry outline finally came together to reveal…

"You're the flower girl," Cloud said. "The flower girl I saved from the thugs." She smiled down on him, green eyes shining brightly. "Damn, I'd managed to forget about her," he thought to himself. He really did not need to deal with a girl like this.

"So we meet again," she said, grinning. "Seems like we were meant to meet for some reason." That was twice she'd mentioned some sort of fate or supernatural power directing him, first saving him from the fall, and now this. Cloud didn't like it.

"Although it is amazing that we did meet again, after you taking a fall like that," the flower girl continued. "These flowers are just so strong and healthy, they must've broken your fall enough for you to survive."

"A bunch of flowers broke my fall?" thought Cloud skeptically. Well, that's the only possible explanation for how he survived, wasn't it? He started to rise to his feet.

"Careful!" cautioned the girl, and put out her hands to help him. He accepted her help, and soon stood shakily upright. "So these are your flowers?" he asked, looking down at them. There was a roughly circular hole in the middle of the church floor about six feet in diameter, filled with soil and dotted with brilliantly colored flowers of the sort that Cloud remembered seeing in her basket. It had been so long since he'd seen natural growth of any sort. "Beautiful," he muttered, the flowers affecting his emotions more than he had intended.

"Me, or the flowers?" asked the flower girl. Cloud's head jerked up. "Uh…" he started. But then she giggled. "Sorry, I had to," she said. "Oh, by the way, my name's Aeris," she said, smiling and doing a cute little mock-curtsey. Cloud found himself cracking a smile in spite of himself. "Cloud Strife," he said.

"About time we've been introduced, isn't it?" she asked.

"Guess so." There was a few moments' pause.

"I feel like talking," Aeris said suddenly. Cloud looked up, somewhat surprised. She shrugged, smiling innocently. "You up for it? I know you just fell about a million feet and all, so don't worry if you're not."

"I wouldn't worry at all," Cloud thought, but somewhere deep inside he doubted the truth of that statement. Well, it was a moot point anyway, because he felt fine. "Sure."

"Great!" she said, beaming. She straightened her pink dress, then crouched down to tend her flowers. "So you already know what I do, obviously. How about you? What's your lot in life, Cloud?"

"Me? I do pretty much anything," Cloud said shrugging. It sounded better than 'I do pretty much anything if the money's right, including destroying city property and killing anyone who gets in my way.'

"Ah, a jack-of-all-trades," said Aeris. "Say…have you ever been a bodyguard?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Not really," he replied.

"Well, could you be one?" she asked.

"I guess so," he said, not seeing where she was going with this. Surely she wasn't planning on hiring him? Why would an innocent flower girl need a bodyguard? Well, the incident in Upper Midgar answered that. But she certainly wouldn't have the money.

"Then get me out of here," she said, glancing over to the door of the church, then looking into his eyes earnestly.

"What?" said Cloud, surprised.

"Just escort me out of here. Take me home."

Cloud stood silently for a moment, wondering what she thought would happen to her just on the way back to her house. "Well, it'll cost you," he said. She paused, looking somewhat downcast. Cloud grinned inwardly. So she thought he'd offer to do it for free because of her looks, eh? "Not me, sister," he thought proudly.

"Well…how about if I go out with you once?" she asked, giving a queer little smile.

Now it was Cloud's turn to be taken aback. "What???"

She just stared back at him with that charming little smile on her face. "You take me home, and I go on a date with you. How 'bout it?"

Cloud thought it was bullshit, and was about to tell her so, but he was suddenly distracted by movement near the front door, and glanced over. A man smartly dressed in a business suit strolled leisurely towards them. He had punkish auburn hair partly tied back in a ponytail and an unreadable expression on his fair face. He now realized why Aeris had glanced over at the door a minute ago. How long had this odd man been here, and what did he want?

"Cloud, let's get out of here," Aeris whispered to him, but Cloud was intrigued now. Bending down, he picked up his Buster Sword that he had dropped prior to his fall, sheathed it on his back, and strode confidently towards the man.

"Who are you?" Cloud asked the suited man. The man smiled easily, but this did little to put Cloud at ease.

_I know you._

"I know you," Cloud said, peering at the man intensely. "You're…a Turk."

The man smiled again. "Impressive," he said, nodding at Cloud. "How did you manage to find that out? I'm sure that I've never dealt with you before."

"Of course I know the Turks!" said Cloud. "I used to be with ShinRa myself. Reno, isn't it?"

"You'd still have to be pretty high up in the company to hear about us. Especially to know my name" mused the Turk, his cool somewhat lost. "Oh, your eyes…SOLDIER, I'm guessing?"

"That's right."

Reno shrugged. "Funny I don't remember you, but whatever. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a little bit of business with the lady in pink."

"What do you want with her?" said Cloud suspiciously. The Turk sighed. "Look, man, this doesn't have to get ugly. Just let me do my business, and I'll leave you to yours, alright?"

"Cloud…" Aeris said, sounding frightened. Cloud looked around to see several blue-clad ShinRa troops bearing rifles advancing on her from the other side of the flowers. Apparently there was another way in.

"What the hell is this?" Cloud demanded, staring at the suited man harshly.

"None of your business, man, that's what," he said.

"What do you want with a freaking flower girl?" Cloud said.

Reno sighed. "Go ahead and take her," he said to the soldiers. They started advancing on Aeris as she slowly backed away. He reached out to restrain Cloud, but he had underestimated the speed of a SOLDIER. Cloud quickly elbowed the Turk in the chest, causing him to double over in pain, then focused on the Materia in his sword.

"Ice!" he yelled, directing the spell at the soldier closest to Aeris. He groaned slightly as he collapsed, frozen nearly solid. The other troops hesitated for a moment, giving Cloud the opportunity he needed. He rushed forward, grabbing Aeris' hand, and ran off, deeper into the unknown interior of the church.

"Where to?" Cloud demanded.

"They'll have the back door guarded. Up there," Aeris said breathlessly, pointing with her free hand to a nearby flight of steps leading upwards. They ran up the steps to find themselves on a wooden walkway overlooking the main chapel area in which they had been moments before. Sparing a glance downward, Cloud saw the Turk with the two remaining soldiers staring up at them.

"Open fire, but NOT to kill!" ordered Reno. The two soldiers raised their rifles and started firing.

"Shit!" cursed Cloud. "Come on!" he said to Aeris, and they sped up, trying to reach the staircase at the end of the walkway which seemed to lead the upper rafters, out of range of the weapons. The gunshots rang loudly in the reverberating room, but neither were being hit.

"Can I trust anything to you guys? Honestly!" Cloud heard Reno say below. There was a different kind of gunshot then, from a smaller-caliber weapon by the sound of the shot.

Aeris screamed as the walkway beneath her feet was suddenly shattered by several bullets. Cloud reached for her, but it was too late. She tumbled down to land hard below. The soldiers quickly moved for her. Cloud cursed, weighing his options. They seemed to be interested primarily in her, not him. He could easily make his escape while they were preoccupied. He had never, after all, agreed to her absurd contract to be her bodyguard. But his unwelcome conscience again reared its ugly head, and he knew that he couldn't just leave this innocent girl to the ShinRa. He drew his sword.

Reno grinned. She was finally theirs', despite that weird guy that had been here with her. That had been disconcerting. He never remembered recruiting that guy as a SOLDIER. Certainly his colleagues Rude or Tseng could have found him, but as the leader of the Turks, Reno thought that he would at least recognize all SOLDIERs. Well, it didn't matter now. The guy was up there, and she was down here. Reno looked up for the supposed SOLDIER. The blond guy stood on the walkway with his sword drawn. "Like you're gonna do any good from up there," Reno thought smugly. But his smirk suddenly turned to a gasp as the man raised his sword and leapt down from the platform, straight for the two ShinRa troops. He landed on top of one, kicking him into the ground and knocking him out, while simultaneously slashing down at the other with his enormous sword. All of a sudden, both his soldiers were gone. The guy was a SOLDIER all right. But he was no Sephiroth, or else he would know him for sure. Reno grit his teeth, and strode purposefully towards the SOLDIER.

Cloud bent down over Aeris, still lying prone on the ground. "Are you all right?"

She groaned softly. "I…I think so," she said. She tried to get up, but suddenly fell back down with a cry. "My leg…" she said. Cloud reached for the Restore Materia in his pocket and prepared to cast a Cure spell on her. But the bullet through his arm prevented that, causing him to drop the Materia with an exclamation of pain.

"Alright, SOLDIER boy," said Reno, standing above the pair, holding a smoking .45. "I gave you plenty of chances to keep from getting involved, and you just threw them all away. I really don't like doing this, but you've left me no choice." He raised the gun to point at Cloud's face. Cloud closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the gunshot that would signal the end of his existence.

But it didn't come. Instead came the sound of a small explosion and a scream of pain from…Reno? He opened his eyes. Reno was prone on his back, small flames flickering around him. "I hate doing that in a church, but guess I didn't have much of a choice," said Aeris, who held a wooden staff in her hand. Cloud noticed that the gem had a Materia embedded in it, presumably a Fire Materia, judging from what had happened to Reno. She reached for the Restore Materia that Cloud had dropped, and quickly used it to Cure Cloud and herself. Cloud was thoroughly impressed. Not only did she possess and know how to use Materia, but she seemed to have a remarkable proficiency with it. Even he couldn't cast spells as quickly as she had with the Cures, and he knew that a single attack spell from him wouldn't knock out as formidable opponent as a Turk. He looked at the flower girl with a new respect. She shrugged, grinning. "Lucky shot?" she said. "Whatever," said Cloud. But as rose to his feet, he saw that Reno wasn't quite as injured as he had supposed. While the spell had indeed dealt far more damage than he would have expected, the Turk was not unconscious, but only temporarily stunned from the unexpected ferocious attack, and was now starting to groan and stir. Cloud grabbed his sword and raised it above his head, preparing for the coup de grace.

"Cloud, no!" exclaimed Aeris, grabbing his arms. He stared at her coldly. "Let me finish him, Aeris," he said.

"You can't just kill him while he's lying there!" she said.

"You don't know what kind of guys these Turks are!" said Cloud. "You don't want him messing with your life!"

"Cloud!" Aeris said, pointing towards the church doorway. More ShinRa troops were starting to rush in. Cloud again grabbed Aeris and ran up the stairs to the walkway above, but backed down when the soldiers let loose a barrage of gunfire. Cloud cursed. "There's no way we can get past this!" he said. But suddenly had an idea. "Hand me your staff," he ordered Aeris. With a somewhat confused look but without question, she obeyed. Tensing his muscles, Cloud gave a mighty leap and with his free hand grabbed onto the upper rafters of the roof. The soldiers tried to shoot him, but he was covered by the multitude of rafters between him and the bullets. Laying down on the beam, he lowered the wooden staff as far as he could. "Aeris!" he called, "Grab onto the staff!" Aeris came out from the stairway and obeyed. Cloud immediately used the staff to swing her up to land beside him on the beam, thanking the deity he didn't believe in that she was so light. "What now?" Cloud asked.

"There's a hole in the wall over there where we can escape!" said Aeris, pointing to the far end of the church. They started making their way along the rafters, trying to ignore the bullets splintering the wood all around them. Soon Cloud saw the hole she was talking about, a roughly circular gap in the wall. She ran over to it. "Come on, Cloud!" she said. He started to climb through it, but hesitated and drew his sword. With a might slice, he cleaved in two the beam on which they had just been. The severed portion tumbled down into the chapel below, rendering any pursuit impossible. They were safe.

Thanks for the reviews, all you out there! Please do keep it up. Every appreciative review I get is another reason for me to keep going on this thing, and critiques are still much appreciated. Oh, and I fixed my thingy that wouldn't let me accept unsigned reviews, so if you haven't been reviewing for that reason, you're now covered. And MEGA thanks to Emeraldjewel, Dark ki a.k.a. Li and Stratadrake for helping my ignorant self with my stupid italics problem!

EXPLANATORY RANT W/ MINOR SPOILERS. THOSE WHO WANT TO BE SURPRISED BY MY LATER CHANGES SKIP: So I'm continuing in my endless screwing around with details, minor and not. I'm sorry, but that deal with the barrels was just plain absurd. Fine for a game, mayhaps, but it ain't happening here. As for Reno almost killing Cloud, you can expect the Turks to be treated a LOT more seriously in this story. They were nowhere near badass enough for professional badasses in the game. Their theme song gave them about 3 million badass points, but when it came down to it, they just didn't deliver (aside from Rude, who was, and is, The Man.) Not so anymore. They will not be such dorks, and won't be such pushovers in battle.

Okay, enough of that. I'm takin' a nice little sojourn to a hopefully warmer climate soon, so maybe I'll update soon, and maybe not. If not, do not dismay. In the words of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, "I'll be there. I'll be there. I will be there."

Eh, works better in the song. (Karn Evil 9 First Impression: Part One)


	9. A Light in the Darkness

A Light in the Darkness

            Cloud and Aeris found themselves on a towering pile of scrap metal, high above the ground.  "This way!" said Aeris, as she leapt from their tower of trash to a similar one a foot away.  Cloud shook his head.  This place seemed to be far worse even than Sector 7.  But he followed, quickly catching on to the garbage dance she did across the random piles of metal.  As long as you could keep your balance atop the haphazard pillars, you were fine.  "Do this often?" Cloud asked, as he caught up to Aeris.  The flower girl smiled.  "You'd be surprised," she replied.  

            "I can't imagine why the Turks would be after you," remarked Cloud.  "They're ShinRa's elite that no one knows about, the ones that do all the important dirty jobs that wouldn't be good for company PR.  Murder, kidnappings, blackmail, all that.  What would they want with you?"

            "I think…"

            "What?" Cloud asked.

            "It sounds stupid, but I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER," she replied, somewhat breathlessly due to the chase and current hopping across garbage piles.  Cloud considered this, recalling that the Turks were the primary group for SOLDIER recruitment.  Aeris certainly had proven remarkable with Materia.  But still, he had trouble seeing this innocent girl working as an elite warrior for a corrupt corporation.  "So I take it you don't plan on joining?" Cloud asked.

            "No way!  Not with…what ShinRa does to the Planet," responded Aeris, definitely having trouble breathing now.  

            "Good idea," said Cloud, continuing the insane trail across the garbage heaps. 

            "Cloud!  Wait…wait a minute!  Don't…leave me!" panted Aeris from behind.  He glanced back.  She was doubled over on a pile of trash, catching her breath.  He smiled slightly, walking back to her.

            "I thought you were cut out to be a SOLDIER," remarked Cloud.

            "Oh, you're terrible!" laughed Aeris, hitting him playfully.  She was silent for a moment before she spoke up again.  "Cloud…were you ever in SOLDIER?"

            "Yeah," said Cloud, somewhat surprised at her guess.  "Why, how'd you guess?"

            "Your eyes," said Aeris.  "They have an unusual glow."

            "Mako eyes," said Cloud, nodding.  "The sign of those who have been infused with Mako.  All SOLDIERs go through it, so their eyes show it afterwards.  But how…"  His voice trailed off as Aeris raised her head and he looked into her deep green eyes.  They weren't just bright, he suddenly noticed, but they glowed just as would a SOLDIER's.  "What about your eyes?" asked Cloud.  "They glow the same as mine."

            "Hm?" asked Aeris, blinking.  "I guess I was just born this way."

            "No one's born with Mako eyes," said Cloud.

            She shrugged.  "First time for everything, I guess."  She grabbed his arm.  "Okay, let's go, bodyguard!"  And they continued their trash-hopping.

            "Whew!  Finally made it!" said Aeris as they disembarked from the final pile of garbage onto solid ground.  They were on the edge of what appeared to be a town center.  There were several trailers scattered around the area, with a few pale slum-dwellers milling about.  Cloud peered at Aeris.

            "You look pretty good for someone who lives in the slums," he remarked suddenly.  She looked over at him suddenly, surprised, and Cloud realized just what he had just said.  "I mean, you don't look pale or sickly like most of the people down here," he quickly amended.

            "Oh, you're too kind," she remarked before turning away, miffed.  Cloud cursed himself inwardly.  It was true, though.  She stood out tremendously from everyone else down here.  She would stand out just about anywhere, in fact...

            "Shut up," Cloud ordered himself.  But still, there was something very odd about this girl.  "So, if I am your bodyguard or whatever, where to now?" he asked, trying to escape his verbal blunder of a moment before.

            "We'd better make for my house before those guys start looking around town," Aeris said, and started to walk through the town square.  As they walked, Cloud gradually became aware of a loud moaning coming from somewhere nearby.  "What is that?" asked Cloud, referring to the sound.

            "It sounds like that man who was wandering around here earlier," said Aeris.  "I hope he's all right!"  The sounds seemed to be coming from a pipe connecting to a small structure, and Cloud entered, intrigued.  Inside was a small metal chamber, dominated by a plain bed.  On the bed lay a figure totally wrapped in a black cloak except for his lean but muscular right arm.  Cloud noticed the number "2" tattooed on his bicep.  The man was moaning continuously, not loudly as if he felt great pain anguish, but in a more subdued manner, reminding Cloud of bad zombie movies he had seen as a kid. 

            "This guy is sick," Aeris said sadly, shaking her head.  "He appeared fairly recently and has just been wandering around town aimlessly.  I guess he finally just collapsed and someone brought him in here and gave him this," she said, gesturing to the untouched food lying near the bed.  Cloud was about to leave when an idea struck him.  The man's moaning voice sounded somewhat familiar.  "There's no way I know this guy…do I?" thought Cloud.  He walked over to the bed and leaned over to try and remove the hood obscuring his face, but the man shifted away, groaning extra loudly.

            "What are you doing?  Can you help him?" asked Aeris hopefully.

            "I'm no doctor," said Cloud.  Her face fell and she nodded.  They left the troubled man without another word and continued towards her house.

            As they continued walking well out of the town center, Cloud noticed the usual darkness of the slums starting to lighten somewhat, the brightness intensifying as they proceeded.  It soon became light enough to seem like daylight in the dankness of the slums.

            "What's causing this light?" Cloud asked, confused.  Aeris just laughed quietly.  "You'll see," she said, refusing to answer any further.  She just led on out of town.  They found themselves on a dirt path leading towards the steadily brightening light.  Cloud soon saw the source of it.  Way up on the plate that formed the slums' sky was another gaping hole, through which sunlight from the real sky far above shone down, blessing the slums with its rare natural light and warmth.  Directly beneath this hole there was a small white house.  Not a ramshackle, thrown-together piece of shit shack, but a real house.  Nothing fancy of course, but it was a real house nonetheless.  Past the house Cloud could see a small garden, populated beautiful flowers such as the ones in the church.  "Let me guess – your house?" Cloud asked.  Aeris smiled and nodded.  "Come on!" she said, taking his hand and running down the path to the house.

            "Mom!  I'm home!" Aeris called as led Cloud into the house.  It was modest but cozy, Cloud saw.  They were in a small circular, stone-floored living room dominated by a table surrounded by several wooden chairs.  The room branched off into several smaller chambers through portals at various points, and a wooden staircase led upstairs.  Not bad at all for a slum-dweller, Cloud thought.

            A slightly large woman in a green dress and apron stepped out of one of the side rooms, presumably a kitchen.  "Aeris!  How are…" she trailed off as she took note of the stony-faced, armed man standing in the doorway next to her daughter.

            "Oh, this is Cloud, my bodyguard," explained Aeris.

            "Your bodyguard?  Oh no, were you followed again?" her mother asked worriedly.

            "They tried," said Aeris, waving aside her mother's concern.  "But I'm fine.  I had Cloud with me."

            "Well thank you very much, Mr…"

            "Strife," said Cloud.

            "Mr. Strife," finished Aeris' mother.  "Aeris means so much to me, and I just couldn't…"

            "Moooommmm…" Aeris said, annoyed.

            "Right, I'm sorry," said Aeris' mother.  "Well, anyway, you can call me Mrs. Gainsborough.  Will you be staying for dinner, Mr. Strife?"

            "No," said Cloud.

            "Yes," said Aeris.  They looked at each other.  "Come on Cloud, I know you don't have anywhere else to go here," said Aeris.  "I saw you fall from Upper Midgar, remember?"

            "Fall from Upper Midgar???" asked Mrs. Gainsborough.

            "Yeah!" said Aeris, and eagerly retold the day's events.  Her mother gasped and held her breath in suspense at all the appropriate points, and when Aeris had finished she spoke up.

            "I can't believe those ShinRa goons," she said, shaking her head in dismay.  "They think the entire world is here just for them, and that they can just push around anyone for any reason.  Well, their luck won't last forever."

            "The Planet won't take it forever," said Aeris.  Her mother got a frightened look at this, and promptly took Aeris aside and held an anxious whispered conference, none of which Cloud could catch.  When they had finished, they both turned back to Cloud.  

            Mrs. Gainsborough said, "Well, if you did all that for my Aeris, you certainly are welcome for dinner."  Cloud deliberated.  He had intended to get right back on the road for Sector 7 to try to discover the fate of Barret and Tifa as soon as he had safely delivered Aeris, but he did feel extremely hungry.  Who knew how long it had been since he had eaten, anyway?  "All right," he said at length.

            "Hooray!" cheered Aeris, garnering a disapproving look from her mother.  "Well, it will be ready in a few minutes.  I'll just finish it up and you two can sit at the table and wait," said Mrs. Gainsborough before turning to return into the kitchen.  Aeris and Cloud seated themselves around the wooden table.

            "You thought you could get away that easily?" asked Aeris.

            "Huh?" said Cloud.  She just shook her head, smiling.

            "What are your plans, anyway?  Planning on trying to find AVALANCHE?" she asked.

            "Yeah, I…huh?!?" said Cloud, staring at her in shock.  She just stared back innocently.  "How…how did you know?" stammered Cloud.

            Aeris sighed, then imitated a male news-caster's matter-of-fact voice: "A terrorist group calling itself AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for last night's bombing of Midgar's Mako Reactor #5, as well as the earlier bombing of Reactor #1.  The group is said to consist of a large black man with a gun for a hand, a brown haired, brown eyed white female garbed in shorts and tank top, and a blond, blue eyed man with a huge sword, believed to be a former ShinRa SOLDIER.  Sound familiar?" she finished, returning to her normal voice.

            "I didn't know you knew," Cloud muttered, staring down at the table.  He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked over to see Aeris gazing into his eyes sympathetically.  "It's okay," she said.  "I think it's great, that somebody is finally standing up for the Planet."  Her stare made him feel uncomfortable, and Cloud returned his gaze to the table, remaining silent.  

            "So are you going to try and find your friends?" she asked.

            "Yeah, I'll head over to Tifa's bar in Sector 7," he replied.

            "Tifa?" asked Aeris.

            "The girl in your wonderful little report," Cloud said.

            "Ah," she said.  "Friend of yours?" she asked after a few moments.

            "Yeah," he said.  He could tell that there was something else on Aeris' mind, and she seemed about to ask something, but never got the chance, as Aeris' mother returned from the kitchen, bearing a steaming platter.

            The dinner was mediocre, but had the advantage of being the first home-cooked meal Cloud had had in quite a while.  During the meal, Aeris talked brightly of the relatively inconsequential news of Sector 5, being careful to avoid mention of Cloud's terrorist activities.  Her mother nodded to her daughter's comments and asked the occasional question, while Cloud remained silent for most of the meal, until Aeris spoke to him.

            "So you're heading for Sector 7, right?" she asked.

            "That's right," he said, looking over to her.

            "Well, I'll show you the way," she said, rising from her chair.  "Bye Mom!  Thanks for dinner!" she said as she made her way for the door.

            "What?" protested Cloud and Mrs. Gainsborough simultaneously.

            "You want to put yourself in danger again?  Those guys could still be around!" said Cloud.

            "I'm used to it," said Aeris, shrugging.  "Besides, I'll have you around, right?"

            "Not on the way back!" Cloud pointed out.

            "Mr. Strife is right, Aeris," said her mother.  "You can't just go wandering around so soon after you've been attacked."

            "It will just be along the road to Sector 6," wheedled Aeris.

            "That's the most dangerous part!" said her mother.  "Absolutely not!"

            "Come on, Mom.  I'll be fine!" said Aeris.

            "Oh, I can never dissuade you once you've set your mind on something," said her mother.  "You'll wait until tomorrow, at least.  You've had quite a day as it is."

            "That's true, I guess," said Aeris.  "Okay, we'll stay here for the night."

            "We?" asked Mrs. Gainsborough.  "I'm sorry Aeris, but Mr. Strife can't stay here."

            "What?" asked Aeris indignantly.  "Come on Mom!  After all he's done for me, you won't even let him stay one night?"

            Mrs. Gainsborough sized up Cloud, obviously not liking the prospect of a hardened warrior sleeping in her house, bodyguard or no.  Well, that was fine by him.  He was content to sit back and let Aeris fight this one out for him.

            But to his surprise, there wasn't much of a fight.  "Alright, he can stay," said Mrs. Gainsborough at length.  "But only for one night."

            "Alright!  Follow me!" said Aeris to Cloud, running towards the stairway.

            "Aeris!  I don't want you staying up all night!  You need your rest!" called her mother.

            "Oh, come on, Mom!  I'm twenty-two!  You're treating me like a little girl at a slumber party!" said Aeris, sticking out her tongue playfully.  A child's slumber party wasn't the first occasion for staying up all night that had entered Cloud's head, and from the mother's anxiety, he guessed that she had the same thoughts.  "And this girl is a year older than me?" he thought bemusedly.

            "Well, okay," said Mrs. Gainsborough.  "Aeris, make up an extra bed in the room next to yours for Mr. Strife.  "Mr. Strife, Aeris will get you settled in for the night."  Cloud nodded and followed Aeris upstairs.

            Like the rest of the house, the bedroom was small but comfortable.  Cloud gladly stripped himself of his equipment, placing most of it on a desk in the corner but lying his Buster Sword on the floor within easy reach of the bed.  He removed his gloves and boots and laid down in the bed, savoring the feel of an actual mattress.  "Oh, man," he said to himself.  "Haven't slept in a bed like this for a long time…"

_Since that time…___

            "My how you've grown," said Cloud's mother, looking her son up and down.  "And you look so handsome in that SOLDIER uniform!  I'll bet the girls never leave you alone!"

            Cloud shrugged.  His mother smiled, but turned her back and walked a few steps away, thinking.  "I'm worried about you," she said after a few moments.  "There a lot of temptations in the city, and I just never know what you're up to.  I'd feel better if you settled down with a nice girlfriend."  Cloud snorted derisively.

            "I'm serious!" said his mother, turning back to him to stare at him anxiously.  "An older girlfriend, the type that could take care of you."

            "Mom, I think I can take care of myself," said Cloud, crossing his arms.

            "In a fight, I don't doubt it," said his mother.  "But there's more to life than fighting, honey," she said, placing her hand softly on his shoulder.  He looked up at her.  She looked so caring, but so sad…

            "Hello?" said a voice from outside his door.

            In a flash Cloud was out of bed grasping his sword, ready to dismember his opponent, but before he charged out the door he recognized the voice of Mrs. Gainsborough.  "Come in," he said, laying down his sword.  She entered silently, not saying anything for a few moments.

            "You were in SOLDIER, right?" she asked without preamble.  Cloud nodded.  "That's what I thought.  So you were the one in the bombings, then?"  Cloud cursed inwardly.  Would he be instantly recognized anywhere within Midgar as a terrorist?  "Don't worry, I won't give you away," Mrs. Gainsborough assured him.  "I hate ShinRa as much as you do, but still, I…there's no easy way to say this…I don't want Aeris getting involved with someone like you.  She's had dealings with SOLDIER before.

            Cloud thought of the flower girl in the room next door, remembering her glowing eyes that she had denied as evidence of affiliation with SOLDIER.  "So she was a SOLDIER, then?" he asked.

            "Aeris?  Heavens, no!" said Mrs. Gainsborough emphatically.  "But she's been involved with a SOLDIER before, and I just don't want her getting hurt again.  So, would you mind leaving early tomorrow morning, before she gets up?  I appreciate everything you've done for her, but she has enough trouble avoiding the ShinRa here as it is, and I'm afraid that if she got involved with someone like you, things would only get worse."  He nodded.  "Thank you for understanding," she said and walked out, closing the door softly behind her.  Cloud slowly lay back on his bed, thinking.  "An older girlfriend…" he thought, laughing softly before realizing that he found nothing funny about it.  He closed his eyes, trying to forget about the unwelcome emotions racing through his head.

Or I could finish another chapter or two before leaving.  Honestly, I'm on a roll with this recently.  I can't promise all future chapters will arrive so quickly, so enjoy the fast + furious updates while they last.  And wow, I actually didn't change too much in this chapter, aside from slight re-writes of the dialogue.  It felt really weird calling Cloud "Mr. Strife," but it just made sense.  Okay, seriously, I'm off to warmer places for a week.  Costa del Sol?  Not quite, but one can always wish… 


	10. Wall Market

Wall Market

            Cloud woke early in the morning, remembering his promise to Mrs. Gainsborough.  He silently equipped himself.  Going through his pockets to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he came upon his Restore Materia that Aeris had used to heal him.  He placed it in his Buster Sword next to his Ice Materia.  From his other pocket, he pulled out none other than the flower that he had bought from Aeris upon their first meeting.  It was looking pretty haggard at this point, having gone through a lot in the past few days, but it was still easily recognizable.  As he left his room, on the way to the stairs he passed Aeris' room.  Pausing for a moment, on a whim he bent down and placed the flower in front of her door.  He wasn't sure how she would take that, and he didn't even know what he meant by it.  But somehow he knew he couldn't just leave her without doing anything.  Turning away, he sneaked down the stairs and out of the house.

            The walk back into town was somewhat faster than the day before without Aeris with him.  She may have magical skills, but she certainly didn't have the physical capabilities of a SOLDIER.  He should have known that.  But then why did her eyes..?

            "Don't think about it.  Don't think about her," he ordered himself, quickening his pace.  He wanted to get as far away from here, as far away from her, as quickly as possible.  He soon passed through the town center.  This early in the morning few people were up, but he found one middle-aged man standing outside of his trailer, smoking a cigarette.  

            "Hey, how do you get from Sector 7 from here?" Cloud asked, approaching the man.

            "Sector 7?" the man said in a raspy voice.  "You don't.  You go to Sector 6, and there should be a gateway that'll lead you ta Sector 7."

            "Okay, how do I get to Sector 6?" Cloud asked, frustrated.

            "You go outta town that way," the man said, pointing in the same direction Cloud had been traveling, "and you take a right when you get on a dirt road.  You'll pass through a gateway carved into the wall, and that's the road to Sector 6."  Cloud nodded his thanks and moved on.  He left town, and soon found the dirt road the man had mentioned.  Looking to his left, he saw the church where he had awoken the day before.  There was now no sign of the ShinRa, thankfully, so he turned his right and started to make his way for the gateway, only to see-

            "You're up bright and early," remarked Aeris, casually leaning against the wall of the arch.

            Cloud sighed.  "I didn't want you to get involved," he said.

            "Didn't want me to get involved???" said Aeris incredulously.  "That Turk was after me, not you!  I'm already involved!"

            "I have to take you home," persisted Cloud.  "I promised your mother."

            "Oh, so Mom had something to do with this.  I should have known."

            "Aeris, things aren't going to get any safer the way I'm going," said Cloud.  "I'm your bodyguard and all, right?  I have to look out for you."

            "Oh, so THAT'S how you're playing it," said Aeris, smiling wryly.  "Okay then, _bodyguard_, I think I'm going to do some shopping in Wall Market in Sector 6.  The road there is _terribly_ dangerous and I'm just _awfully_ frightened.  So if you're going to carry out your duties as my _bodyguard_ and all, I guess you'll just have to follow me to Sector 6, won't you?"

            Cloud sighed.  "I see what your mother meant about never being able to dissuade you once you've set your mind on something."

            Aeris grinned widely.  "That's right!  Besides, I never paid you back, did I?"

            "Huh?" asked Cloud.

            "For being my bodyguard.  I owe you a date, right?"

            Cloud felt a strange emotion stir at this, but immediately forced it out of his consciousness.  "No, you don't owe--"

            "Nope, that was the deal," said Aeris, crossing her arms.  "You act as my bodyguard, and I go on a date with you.  And you just admitted you were my bodyguard, so I just wouldn't feel right without keeping up my end of the bargain."

            Cloud couldn't help but smile.  "You seem pretty eager to pay up,"

            Aeris shrugged, smiling.  "Well, if we're finished negotiating, then let's get going, bodyguard!"

            The road to Sector 6 wasn't so much a road as it was…actually, Cloud didn't really have a word in his vocabulary to describe what lay before him.  Junkyard, perhaps, but that wasn't quite it.  It was clear from the pavement that this had once been a road once, but that was about where the similarity to an actual road ended.  The road paint, where it was visible at all, was faded, and the pavement was everywhere cracked and uneven, often with huge chunks missing altogether.  No automobile could ever possible navigate it.  As if this weren't enough, there were pieces of debris and wreckage of innumerable sorts strewn all over the road, often blocking all passage.  Some of the pieces of trash were clearly from old cars, but there were also pieces of buildings, machinery, and some were altogether unidentifiable.  Cloud was certain that he saw a giant metal hand at one point.  "You call this a road?" he asked incredulously.

            Aeris shrugged.  "This is why we don't go shopping in Wall Market very often," she said.  

            "Not to mention that this would be the ideal place for an ambush," said Cloud, uneasily placing his hand on the sword on his back.

            "Well, that's why I've got you here, isn't it?" said Aeris.

            "Strictly speaking, it's me who's got you here.  You insisted on following me, remember?"

            "I don't know what you're talking about!" protested Aeris, mock-offended.  "I'm just going shopping in Wall Market, and you, being my bodyguard, are escorting me!"

            "Whatever," sighed Cloud.  "Let's just get through this."

            They carefully made their way along the road, climbing over the trash when the road became totally impassable.  Cloud kept a careful lookout for any potential attackers, but the road seemed to be deserted aside from them.  He thought he saw an old trashed house by the side of the road move once, but decided it was just his imagination.  It was a long, slow process, but the two eventually navigated the much-obstructed road, only to have it end suddenly.   "That's it?" said Cloud.  "Where's the market or whatever?"

            "No way!" said Aeris.  "I can't believe it's still here!" she said, running forward.  Cloud looked to where she was headed.  There were a few pieces of children's play equipment, the remnants of a now-joyless playground in the middle of a desolate field of dirt.  Beyond the playground, Cloud could see to the left a huge metal wall with a door in the middle.  "Must be the door to Sector 7," thought Cloud.  But Aeris stopped before reaching there, instead climbing up a small slide made to look like a cute cartoon animal.  She reached the top and sat down, then gestured to him.  "Come here!  Sit with me!"  Cloud complied, walking over and climbing up atop the slide as well.

            "Does that door lead to Sector 7?" asked Cloud, pointing to the large sheet of metal.

            "Yep, that's it," said Aeris.

            "Well, thanks for guiding me here," said Cloud.  "I guess I have to take you home."

            "Isn't that a little out of your way?" asked Aeris, staring straight ahead.

            "…Guess so," replied Cloud.

            "As in the exact opposite direction?" she persisted.

            "Look, I can't let you go back through all that alone!  Especially not when the Turks are after you."

            Aeris sighed, then turned to look at him.  "Before I left this morning, I wrote a note for Mom and left it on the table.  I don't remember exactly what it said, but something along the lines of 'I'm sorry for doing this all the sudden, but you know me; you know why I had to do it."  There was silence for a moment.  "I'm not going back, Cloud," she said.

            "So…you're coming with me?" he asked.

            She shrugged.  "I'll go wherever I feel called.  I didn't belong there."

            "No, you didn't," said Cloud, surprising himself.  "What the hell?" he thought.  He didn't believe in this shit about callings and 'belonging' anywhere!  You go where you can get good pay, and that was it.  He shook his head.  What was going on with him recently?

            "Are you all right?" asked Aeris, placing a hand on his shoulder.

            "I'm fine!" snapped Cloud, throwing her hand off and leaping down from the slide to pace back and forth.  He could feel Aeris' stunned silence behind him, and he didn't care.  He was sick of his mind being screwed with.  He was fine before he had taken that damn mission for AVALANCHE, but ever since then he had been unable to keep his thoughts straights.  It was like there was another presence in his head, whispering unwelcome ideas to him.  And who knew, maybe it was someone else?  He did have that voice talking to him more insistently now.  Or maybe he was just crazy.  Or maybe it was--

            His head jerked up as he heard metal grinding on metal.  The door to Sector 7 was opening to reveal a chocobo-drawn carriage, a rare sight in the slums.  The carriage passed by the playground down another path leading off into the slums of Sector 6, but as it passed Cloud caught a glimpse of a sad-looking girl in a blue dress.  A familiar-looking sad girl in a blue dress…

            "Tifa?!?" he exclaimed, but it was too late.  The carriage was well out of range of hearing.  

            "Tifa?  That friend of yours?  Where was she going?" asked Aeris, jumping down to join him on the ground.

            "I don't know," said Cloud.  "I didn't even know if she'd made it away from the bombing."  He felt a mixture of relief and anxiety.  At least he knew now that she had survived the bombing mission, but where was she going?  She hadn't look too overjoyed at whatever she was involved in.  "I have to follow her," he said.

            "Sure you do," said Aeris.  "And I'm coming with you."

            "What?  You can't!" said Cloud.

            "Oh?  And why not?" asked Aeris, hands on her hips.

            "I don't know what I'm going to be getting into!  I can't ask you to come along!"

            "Well, you're not asking me.  But I'm coming nonetheless," said Aeris.

            "Aeris, you can't!  For your own good!" said Cloud, wearying of this constant argument.  Why couldn't she just stay away from him?  Things would be so much easier…

            Aeris sighed and sat down on the ground.  "Look, if you don't want me along, then just say so, and I'll go my own way," she said quietly.  But don't do this "for your own good" stuff.  I know what's for my own good.  Don't ask me how, but I just know.  And I know," she continued, looking up into his eyes, "that I'm supposed to be with you."

            Cloud froze.  What???

            "So what do you say, bodyguard?" she asked.

            "What…what do you mean, 'supposed to be with me'?" Cloud stammered finally.

            "I don't know," said Aeris.  "I just know that I shouldn't let you go on without me."

            Cloud was silent, struggling to digest all this.  He looked at her, staring up at him earnestly with those striking emerald eyes, and knew that he couldn't turn her away.  "If you feel so strongly, then you can come," he said.  She nodded, smiling slightly and rising to her feet.  "Thanks," she said.  Cloud nodded and turned away, but she took his hand, causing him to look back.  She stared deeply into his eyes.  "I mean it.  Thank you."

            Cloud felt a chill run through him at this.  This was getting way too personal for him.  He tore away from her and without another word started walking off in the direction of the carriage.  Aeris stared after him for a moment, smiling, then silently followed him.

            They soon found the nexus of the Sector 6 slums: the Wall Market.  A stark contrast to the utter squalor of the previous and the next Sectors, the Wall Market actually looked habitable by human beings.  While it was still nothing compared to a real village such as Cloud's home of Nibelheim, it possessed real buildings instead of trailers or piled-together heaps of trash.  The people were dressed in decent clothing, and seemed to have decent standards of cleanliness, unlike most of the inhabitants of the other sectors.  However, despite the much more pleasant environment, Cloud could see no sign of either Tifa or the carriage which had borne her.  He went up to an older man pacing back and forth along the dirt road, deep in thought.  "I just can't make up my mind…" he muttered to himself.

            "About what?" asked Aeris brightly.  His head snapped up to observe the two newcomers, and he looked down again abashedly.  "Don't make me say it," he said

            "What?" asked Cloud.

            "The shop down there to the right," he muttered.  Aeris ran along the right hand path to see what he was talking about, then returned to Cloud, blushing slightly.  She leaned in close and whispered in his ear.  "It's a…um… 'gentleman's club'," she said.  The old man coughed loudly, avoiding their gazes.  "Cloud, let's leave him alone," urged Aeris.  Cloud nodded and walked down the path.  Around the corner, there it was.  A large, garishly decorated near-mansion, complete with tacky neon lights and a velvet-suited bouncer at the door.  "The Honeybee Inn," advertised the sign above the door.  Cloud shook his head and went to one of the several men standing outside, a lanky, red-haired man about his own age clad in black jeans and shirt.  As he approached, the man turned to face him.  Cloud was about to speak, but he realized that the man looked extremely familiar.  The man, too, seemed to recognize Cloud, as his face screwed up in a gesture of concentration, then suddenly brightened.  "Hey, I know you!" he said.  "You're from Nibelheim, right?"

            "That's right," said Cloud coolly.  

            "What're the odds?" remarked the man.  "Yeah, you were that kid who kinda kept to himself, right?  Who kinda had a thing for Tifa Lockheart?"

            "What???" demanded Cloud.  He glanced sidelong at Aeris.  She had wandered off a small distance, and he couldn't help being glad.  "Why?" he wondered.  But this guy obviously had it all wrong.  His childhood was nothing like that.  He was one of the popular kids, and while Tifa was his best friend, he definitely never "had a thing" for her.

            "Hey, sorry," said the man, putting his hands up apologetically.  "Didn't mean to offend ya or anything.  The name's Johnny," he said, extending his hand.

            "Cloud," he replied, firmly shaking Johnny's hand.

            "Cloud, that's what I thought.  But I could've sworn…anyway, it doesn't matter now, at any rate."  He glanced up at the sign of the "Inn", and grinned sheepishly.  "Kind of an odd place for childhood pals to meet, eh?" he remarked.  "So, I guess you're here for…ya know…"

            "What???  No!" exclaimed Cloud violently.  "Don't bring me down to your level!"

            "Yeah, I hear ya," said Johnny.  "I don't usually go for stuff like this either.  It's just that I'm leaving Midgar soon, so I wanted my last memories of the big city to be, well…" he trailed off.  Cloud laughed humorlessly.  "Anyway, so what are ya doing here?" Johnny asked.

            "Well, actually I'm looking for Tifa," replied Cloud.

            "Tifa?!?  She works here?" exclaimed Johnny incredulously.

            "No, no," said Cloud quickly.  "But I just saw her in a chocobo-drawn carriage headed for the Market, and I didn't see where she went.  I guess you haven't seen her?"

            "Hmm…" said Johnny, thinking.  "I haven't seen her, no…but a chocobo-drawn carriage, I'd say it'd have to be The Don."

            "The Don?" said Cloud, clueless.

            "Guess you haven't been here for long, huh?" said Johnny.  "Or else you would've heard of him for sure."

            "Well who is he?" said Cloud.

            "The Don is Don Corneo.  He's the big-shot around town.  He's the one who brought this place up from another sector of shithole slums to what it is now."

            "Big-shot?  So what is he, some sort of crime lord?" asked Cloud.

            Johnny grinned.  "You might say that."

            "So what would this Corneo want with Tifa?" Cloud asked.

            Johnny's smile quickly faded.  "No!  No way!"

            "What?" Cloud demanded.

            "The Don's known for being a…well, frankly he's just sick," said Johnny.  "He's lookin' around for a bride. Every week he gets a few of the prettiest girls around brought into his mansion and he…does his thing with them."

            "With Tifa?!?  No way!" exclaimed Cloud.

            "Why is she even there, I wonder?" said Johnny.  "Tifa would never agree to something like that without some really good reason."

            "Either way, I'm not gonna let it happen!" said Cloud.

            "What are you gonna do?  Just bust in there and get her out?" Johnny said.  "The Don's got about a hundred guards in there!  You'd never even get to her."

            Cloud cursed.  He had to get into the mansion, but how?

            "Um, excuse me. . ."  Cloud whirled around to see Aeris standing behind him.

            "Wow," said Johnny, staring at her.  "There's your ticket in, Cloud.  The Don would let her in in a heartbeat.  Heh, I don't know about you, though.  No offense, but you aren't quite the lady that your friend here is."

            "We can change that," said Aeris.

            "What?" said Cloud and Johnny simultaneously.  She giggled, then spoke again.  "Cloud, why don't you dress up as a girl?"

            There was silence.  "You cannot be serious," said Cloud, staring at her in disbelief.  She shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face.  "I think I could pretty you up enough to get you in."  Cloud just stared.

            "So you're gonna dress Cloud here up well enough to get The Don to want him?  Heh, good luck, lady," said Johnny.  "But seriously, good luck, Cloud.  I can't imagine The Don with his filthy hands all over Ti…"

            "Yeah," Cloud said quickly, not wanting to think about it.  "But how the hell do you expect to pull this off?" he said, turning to Aeris.

            "Hey, I know!" exclaimed Johnny.  They turned to him.  He grinned, blushing slightly.  "We could get you in there, Cloud," he said, gesturing to the Honeybee Inn.  "I'm sure they've got plenty of _feminine_ costumes you could use."

            "What?  Cloud go in there?!?" said Aeris.

            "No, I think Johnny here might be onto something," said Cloud seriously, pondering.  "I'd need something unusual to disguise me enough to pass as a girl, and I'm guessing this is the place for unusual outfits."

            "Oh sure, you'd be all too happy to go in," said Aeris angrily, turning her back.

            "What the hell?" demanded Cloud, but Aeris didn't reply.

            "Heh, women," Johnny whispered to him.  "You should hold onto her, though.  You really got something there."

            "What are you talking about?" said Cloud.  "It's not like that at all!"

            Johnny just shook his head, laughing.  "Whatever, Cloud.  Anyway, here, you'll need this to get in," he said, pulling a card from his pocket and handing to him.  "It's a membership card," he explained.  "You'll need that for them to let you in, and I don't guess you'll be visiting enough to want one of your own.  Course this means I'll have to wait to use it myself," he said with a mischievous grin, "but it's sure worth it if it's gonna help Tifa."

            "Let's hope so," said Cloud.  "Thanks."

            "Good luck, Cloud," said Johnny, waving him off.  Cloud turned and started walking towards the Inn.  "I'll be back in a few, alright?" he said to Aeris.  

             "Oh, take your time," she said darkly.  Cloud glanced at Johnny, who grinned.  "Women," he mouthed silently.  Cloud smiled to himself and nodded, turning to walk towards the suited bouncer.

            "Hey, what are you doin'?" said the bouncer.  "Get the…whoa whoa, is that a member's card I see shining in your hot little hand?  Come in, come in!" he said, gesturing in the door.  Cloud strode in.

            He entered into a circular room, with several doors lining the walls.  He started to walk forward, but was immediately accosted by a pretty girl in a bee suit.  "Poo, uh, I mean sir, please hurry this way," she said in a squeaky voice, running over to the nearest door.  Cloud raised an eyebrow but followed wordlessly.  She opened the door and gestured for him to enter.  "Listen, I'm not here for this, I need—" Cloud started, but the girl promptly shoved him in and closed the door behind him.  Cloud muttered a curse at the freaky girl as he turned to survey his surroundings.  The room had pale turquoise walls, and was dominated by a huge, beautiful bed.  He prepared to leave the room.

_What are you doing in a place like this?_

"Huh?  You again?" Cloud said.

_You have a remarkable affinity for wasting time._

"But I have to save Tifa."

_Ah yes, Tifa.  You should keep her around._

"What do you want with Tifa?"

_You can't escape the past by pretending it didn't happen._

"What the hell are you talking about?  Of course it happened, I remember it!"

_So does Tifa.  Or she wants to._

"Why wouldn't she remember!  She was there too!"

_Certainly, she was there._

"Yeah, so what's your point?"

_All in good time…_

            "Wake up!!!"

            "OW!" said Cloud, sitting up.  He was lying on the bed, and straddling him from above and slapping him repeatedly in the face was a large, sweaty man wearing nothing but entirely too skimpy underwear.

            "Hey, bubby, you alright now?" asked the man.

            "What…what happened?" asked Cloud, somewhat frightened for several reasons.

            "You don't remember?  Aw, I thought it was something special!" said the man.

            "WHAT?!?" yelled Cloud.

            The man laughed heartily.  "Eh, I'm just kiddin' ya.  Oops, looks like your time is up," he said, glancing over at the bee-suit clad girl waiting impatiently in the doorway.  "Just give it your best shot next time.  Bye, bubby!"

            Cloud shuddered.  He unsteadily got to his feet and lurched out the door, feeling very unclean.  But suddenly, he remembered why he was here, and turned to the honeybee girl.  "Hey, I need an outfit."

            "Excuse me poo…I mean, sir?" she squeaked.

            "An exotic outfit, but something not too revealing.  Something that would hide the face, particularly."

            "I'm sorry, poo, er, sir, but…"

            "Will you stop calling me that?!" snapped Cloud.

            "Certainly, poo.  It's just that we can't just give our outfits away."

            Cloud sighed exasperatedly.  "I'll pay you for one," he said.

            "Oh, now that's another matter!  Just one moment, poo," she said, running away through another one of the doors.  In a few moments she re-emerged, carrying a long, multicolored robe.  Cloud examined it.  The robe would cover his entire body, and came complete with a shawl to hide his hair and face.  "This is perfect," he said.  How much?"

            "10,000 gil."  Cloud just stared.  The girl giggled.  "I just kidding, poo.  I asked the manager, he said 1,000 gil."

            Cloud grimaced.  That was half of his pay for the first reactor mission, and he had never gotten his pay for the second.  "Well, maybe Tifa can lead me back to Barret so I can get my money," he thought to himself, and begrudgingly handed over the money.  The girl smiled widely.  "Thank you, come again!" she said, pocketing the money and running off.  Cloud stared after her for a moment in bewilderment before turning to leave.  This was not an episode of his life he would be particularly eager to relive.

            He stepped out of the Inn and gaped.  Every man in the area was swarming around a girl in a pink dress…

            "Can you believe this?" asked the bouncer.  "That damn girl's gonna take all our business away!  I tried to hire her, but she said no, so now she's just struttin' her stuff right here on our doorstep!  No respect for a decent business these days, I tell you!"

            Cloud strode through the crowd, shoving people out of his way.  There, indeed, was Aeris, standing in the middle of the crowd.  "What the hell?!?" Cloud said.

            She nonchalantly turned to face him.  "Oh, Cloud!  Did you have a good time?" she asked innocently.

            "What are you doing?!?" demanded Cloud.

            "Why Cloud, is that jealousy I detect in your voice?" Aeris said slyly.  Cloud fumed.  

            "We don't have time for this!  Come on!" he ordered, storming away.

            "I never knew you cared!" teased Aeris from behind.  Cloud growled and whirled around.

            "Look, since it seems to be bothering you so freaking much, nothing happened.  I walked in, got led into a room, left the room, talked to a girl, bought this robe, and left.  That was it, nothing more.  Okay???"  He was leaving out the troubling dialogue with the voice and the equally troubling awakening to a big sweaty man on the bed with him, not to mention whatever had happened in between the two incidents, but those were details that she really didn't need to hear.  She peered at him for a moment, then grinned and hugged him.  "I knew you weren't that kind of guy, Cloud!" she said happily.  "I wasn't doing anything either, if you want to know.  Just selling a few flowers I had on me.  The guys probably thought I was selling more than that, but too bad for them!"  Cloud grinned despite himself.  As he passed Johnny again, he flipped over the membership card.  Johnny received it, gesturing towards Aeris, still hugging Cloud, and giving him a covert thumbs-up.  Cloud promptly shook Aeris off.  

            "Come on, let's find our local godfather and get Tifa," he said.

            Aeris nodded, but then stopped for a second, cocking her head and peering at Cloud.  "Oh no, there's no way you're getting in like that."  Cloud held up the robe he was carrying, but she shook her head.  "Nope, we've still got one more stop to make before you're woman enough for The Don."

            Cloud had a bad feeling about this.

            Yeah, back to the trend of major changes, as in totally re-writing most of the dialogue as well as the course of events.  I know I left out some important details (Cloud's rank in SOLDIER), but I'll get back to 'em.  As for the transvestite chronicles, I didn't particularly care for it in the game, and I have a special loathing for the old RPG "do a favor for A so A will do a favor for B, so B will do a favor for C, so C will give you stuff that you need to progress," which was pretty much what the whole dress-search was.  So I left out that endless search for girly items, but kept the basic idea.  Figured that people might get kinda mad at such a major change, though some, like me, didn't care for the cross-dressing thing (Dark Ki a.k.a. Lee).  But I made the dress one that would actually work (one with a shawl that would hide Cloud's face and hair.  I'm sorry, but Aeris plus those 5 gay guys from that TV show put together couldn't make Cloud look like a girl, much less a pretty one.)

Clorith:  Wow, if I didn't have a friend who was more active in the fanfic community, I'd have no clue what you were talking about.  To all of you, remember, this is my first fanfic.  I generally don't know the fanfic lingo and all, so speak in layman's terms.  Anyway, as for Cleris or Cloti or whatever, you'll just have to wait and see… [twiddles fingers evilly a la Mr. Burns]


	11. Don of the Slums

Don of the Slums

OR

Adventures in Cross Dressing

            Joey glanced at his watch nervously.  The scouts had been due back hours ago.  True, they had found that one girl from Sector 7, and she was certainly good looking enough, but The Don always liked to have a choice of his lady for the night.  He was not a terribly pleasant boss when he didn't get his way, and Joey dearly hoped that more girls would show up quick.

            "Um, excuse me?"

            Joey's head shot up.  Standing right there in front of him were two girls.  One of them was a gorgeous girl smiling charmingly in a simple pink dress, with flowing chestnut brown hair and shining emerald eyes.  The other was clad in yellow and red robes, and carried a long package gift wrapped in white paper, with a silk ribbon.  A mask and hood concealed her face, revealing only a pair of glowing sapphire eyes.  Joey gaped at the two gorgeous girls who had suddenly materialized in front of him.

            "Is this the mansion of Don Corneo?" asked the green-eyed girl.

            "Sure is!" said Joey.  "And you two have first-class invitations!  Right this way!" he said, turning and opening the front door for them.  He led them inside, into the lavishly decorated antechamber.  The Don had a thing for red.  The entire huge room was scarlet with gold trim, and frankly Joey considered it an eyesore.  But with the pay The Don provided, along with the other benefits, Joey would be willing to put up with any colors The Don could come up with.  He walked over to a nearby door on the left wall, and opened it, gesturing inside.  Just wait in there, girls.  The Don will call for you shortly.  

            "Thank you!" said the green-eyed girl, smiling dazzlingly as she and her friend entered.  Joey shook his head, grinning.  Tonight was definitely going to be a good night.

            "A dungeon?" muttered Cloud, for he and Aeris found themselves at the top of a tall flight of stairs in none other than a dank stone chamber, complete with multiple torture devices at the bottom of the room.  

            "Kinky," Aeris quipped.  Cloud also noticed a girl standing alone amidst the machines.  "Tifa," he thought, and walked down to her with Aeris.

            "You must be Tifa," said Aeris.  Tifa turned to face her, confused.

            "Yes…" said Tifa uncertainly.

            "I'm Aeris Gainsborough.  Nice to meet you, at last," said Aeris, extending her hand.  Tifa shook it, but was still clearly wondering how this girl knew her.  Aeris noticed, saying "Oh, Cloud has told me about you."

            "Cloud?!?" exclaimed Tifa.  "You know Cloud?  Is he all right?"

            "Why don't you ask him yourself?" said Aeris, giggling and pointing to the henceforth silent robed figure with the package.  Tifa walked over to him, again confused.  But then she saw the unmistakable glowing eyes.  "Cloud?  Is that…is that you?!?"

            "Don't rub it in," muttered Cloud, removing his shawl.  His hair, which he and Aeris had gone to great lengths to flatten to fit under the hood, instantly sprung up again in its usual spikes.

            Tifa suddenly threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.  "I'm so glad you're alright!  We thought you were dead!  Well, I couldn't quite bring myself to believe that the great ex-SOLDIER Cloud would allow himself to be killed by a simple fall."  She released him, cocking her head and staring at him.  "How did you survive that fall, anyway?"

            Cloud laughed softly.  "You're not gonna believe it, but a bunch of flowers somehow broke my fall.  Her flowers," he said, nodding towards Aeris.  "Then she healed me up, and here I am."

            "Thank you so much," Tifa said earnestly to the flower-girl.  "Cloud means so much to me, I…" She trailed off as she saw Aeris' surprised expression.  "Oh no, not like that!" said Tifa quickly.  "We've just been best friends as long as I can remember, I just couldn't..."  Aeris nodded, though Cloud thought she looked a tad skeptical.  "So Cloud, what in the world are you doing here, and dressed like that?" asked Tifa.  

            "Looking for you!" said Cloud.  "We saw you in a carriage, and found out that the carriage was headed here.  I knew this wasn't the kind of place you would visit voluntarily, so I decided to see what was up."

            "Yeah, this isn't my ideal vacation spot," remarked Tifa.  "Well, thankfully, the troops withdrew from the reactor after that robot was dropped down, so Barret and I were able to escape.  On the train back to Sector 7, Barret noticed a shady-looking guy spying on us.  He grabbed him and squeezed some information out of him.  He mentioned something about a new ShinRa plot against AVALANCHE.  He didn't know what it was, but he mentioned that being a big guy in the slums, Don Corneo might know something about it.  And so here I am," she finished, smiling sheepishly.  "Barret warned me not to go near the old lech, but I figured I could take care of myself.  Still, I'm…glad you're here."

            Aeris coughed loudly, and both Tifa and Cloud looked towards her.  "So what do you plan to do from here?" asked Aeris.

            "Well, Corneo picks one of three girls for each night.  If he picks me, then I'll have him alone and interrogate him.  If not, I guess I'll have to just make a rude interruption in the middle of his nightly affairs to do it.  I hope it doesn't come to that, though.  I don't really want to see him in the middle of that."

            "Well, what if all three of the girls were on your side?"

            "What do you mean?" asked Tifa.

            "Well, there's you, then we have Ms. Cloud here, and me."

            "You?" asked Cloud.  "Aeris, no, you've done too much already.  I can't have you risking…that…with Corneo.  You can slip out, and they'll bring in another girl."

            "Cloud, I want to," Aeris said, staring into his eyes.  "ShinRa has been messing with my life too, remember?  Please, let me help."

            "Thank you again, Ms. Gainsborough," said Tifa.

            "Oh, please," remarked Aeris.  "It's Aeris, okay?"

            "Well, thank you Aeris," said Tifa.  "So whichever one of us gets in there will pump Corneo for information, right?"

            "Please, don't mention 'pump' in this context," muttered Cloud.

            "CLOUD!" exclaimed Tifa and Aeris in unison.  He just shrugged.

            "Ladies, it's time!" came a voice from the top of the stairs.  Cloud hurriedly stuffed his hair into the shawl, hiding his face before facing the man.  He stood at the door, beckoning for them to follow.  The three companions looked at each other somewhat uneasily before following him out of the dungeon and back into the lavish mansion of The Don.

            "WHERE ARE THEY???"

            "I don't know, sir!" said the servant, cringing.  Don Corneo growled.  He hated being made to wait for anything, particularly for women, and now his girls for the night were late.

            "We already have one, a very pretty one!  Couldn't you just…go ahead with her?" asked the servant.

            "I wanna choose!" said Corneo, crossing his arms stubbornly.  "And if I don't get three girlies in here soon, I might have to feed my Apps!"

            "No, not Apps!" exclaimed the servant, horrified.  The Don just nodded.  "I'll go check to see if they've arrived right away, sir!" said the servant, quickly making his escape.  Corneo sat back in his plush chair and took a puff on his ever-present cigar.  He was the big man around here: he knew it, his servants knew it, everyone knew it.  He would not be made to wait like this!  He was about to take a drastic step and actually rise from his seat to see what in the world was with the delay, but thankfully he was saved from the trouble when the door burst open.  His front doorman, Joey walked in, leading…his three women!

            "Ta da!" trumpeted Joey, stepping back as the women entered to stand side-by-side in front of Corneo.

            "Well, it's about time!" said Corneo.  "But well well well!  This is quite a group!" he remarked, looking them over.  The leftmost girl was dark haired and eyed with a very pretty face, but his eyes were inevitably drawn to her quite respectable endowments covered by a blue dress.  His eyes traveled to the next girl in line, a stunning beauty with striking green eyes, clad in a simple pink dress.  Finally The Don looked to the rightmost girl.  She was nearly totally concealed in an exotic robe of yellow and red.  All that could be seen were her eyes, which were of a shining sapphire blue.  But her gaze was somewhat colder, harder than the others.  She also carried a large white gift-wrapped parcel.  "Interesting, interesting," muttered The Don.  Groaning, he heaved his pudgy self up from his seat to examine his choices more carefully, starting at the left and working his way down the line.  The first two smiled prettily as he looked them over, but the third's expression was of course, unreadable.  

            "Is that present for me, honey?" he asked her, indicating the package she held.  She hesitated a second, then nodded, and Corneo detected a sparkle, as if of amusement, in her eyes at this.  Somehow her exotic apparel and mysterious appearance were alluring to him, and this sudden sparkle in her eyes furthered it.

            "Where are you from, honey?  Wutai?" asked The Don.  The girl again hesitated.  "I've always wanted to go to Wutai, try a little taste of the exotic!" continued Corneo.

            "Sorry, but my friend's a bit shy," said the middle girl in pink.  "She is from Wutai, originally, hence the robes and all."

            "Ooh, goodie!" said Corneo, rubbing his hands together.  He stepped back and straightened himself up, attempting to appear regal.  "I have made my decision!" he announced pompously.  "My choice for the evening is…"  He waited, then cleared his throat angrily.

            "Oh, sorry," said Joey from the back of the room, then hit a nearby button on the wall.  A drumroll was suddenly heard from hidden speakers.

            "That's better!" said Corneo.  "Okay, be ready this time!"  Joey nodded, then hit the button again, silencing the sound.  "Alright my choice for the evening is…"  The drumroll started, and Corneo paused for dramatic effect.  "The girlie on the right from Wutai!"  The girl's eyes went wide at this.  The shy girl had evidently been unconfident in her chances of being chosen.  "No offense, girls," he said to the other two.  They nodded, looking somewhat downcast.  "Joey, you and the guys can have them."  Joey grinned toothily.  "Thank you, sir!" he said, performing a mock-salute as the girls went to follow him.  "Well, dearie, shall we?" asked Corneo to the Wutai girl.  She nodded, and he took her surprisingly rough-feeling hand, leading her through the door to his bedroom.  He instantly leapt onto the violently red, comfortable bed.  The girl, however, remained standing by the side of the bed, unsure of herself.

            "Don't be shy, honey!" said Corneo, patting the side of the bed next to him.  "Take off that mask and let's get to know each other, eh?"  The girl paused, but then held up the package she carried.  "Oh, the present!  Yeah, what's in it?  Gimme, gimme!" said The Don excitedly.  The girl ripped open the paper to reveal – an enormous sword!

            "Huh?  What the hell?" said Corneo, confused.  Cloud took his sword in his right hand, and with his left ripped off his accursed disguise.  "WHAT?!?" exclaimed Corneo.  "A guy?  Wha…what's going on?"

            "I'll be the one asking the questions," said Cloud, raising his sword-point to Corneo's throat.  He shrank back, whimpering.  "Hello?" he called out.  "Someone get in here, now!"

            "No problem," said a voice from outside.  The door burst open to reveal Aeris and Tifa standing in the doorway.  Tifa had now shed her dress to reveal her more familiar tank top and shorts.

            "Huh?  You two???" said Corneo.  "What's going on here?"

            "An interrogation, it that's not too big a word for you," said Tifa sternly, stepping up with Aeris to Cloud's side beside the bed.  "What do you know about ShinRa's new plot against AVALANCHE?" she demanded.  "And if you don't tell us…"  Cloud placed a foot on the bed and leaned over Corneo threateningly.  "I'll chop it off," he said, brandishing his sword.

            "No!!!" said Corneo, horrified.  "Not that!  I'll tell you anything!"

            "So start telling," commanded Tifa.

            "I…I made them find out who the guy with the gun-arm was.  But I was only doing what I was told to do!"

            "And who told you to do it?" asked Tifa.

            "No!  If I told you that, they'd kill me!"

            "And if you don't tell us…" started Tifa.

            "I'll rip it off," finished Aeris, leaning in to loom over the cowering Don with Cloud.

            "You're serious, aren't you?" said Corneo, trembling.  "Whoo-boy, whoo-boy.  It was Heidegger, the head of ShinRa Public Safety Maintenance!"

            "Public Safety Maintenance?" Cloud said skeptically.

            "What does Public Safety Maintenance have to do with Barret and AVALANCHE?" asked Tifa.  "And if you don't tell me," she said, leaning in with Aeris and Cloud.  "I'll smash 'em."

            "Waaaaaaaah!!!"  cried Corneo in terror.  "ShinRa's trying to crush this rebel group, AVALANCHE altogether!  And I mean really crush; they're gonna break the support pillar to bring the whole plate down on top of 'em!"

            "They're bringing the plate down?!?" exclaimed Tifa in disbelief.  "That'll destroy all of the Sector 7 slums, not to mention all the people living on that section of the plate above!"

            "Yep!  I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6!" said Corneo.

            "Cloud, we've got to get to Sector 7 and stop them!" said Tifa, turning to him.  Cloud nodded grimly, gripping his sword.  They left the side of the bed, preparing to leave the room.

            "Hey, wait a minute!" said The Don.

            "Shut up!" spat Cloud.

            "No, it'll only take a second!" insisted Corneo.  The three turned to face the disgusting man once more.  He grinned widely.  "Why do you think a big guy like me would so easily agree to tell you everything?"

            "Because you're a clueless, fat dumbass?" said Cloud casually.  Corneo just laughed.  "Close, but no cigar!" he said with glee, and hit a previously unseen switch on the headboard of his bed.  The floor suddenly disappeared under them, and they fell helplessly through the trapdoor.

            The Don leapt up onto his bed and did a little jig.  It looked like his Apps would be getting a nice, warm meal after all.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arriana:  Thanksya!  Quite a compliment for a rookie fanfic writer such as myself.

Dark ki a.k.a Lee:  I might have to agree with the Crazy Motorcycle scene being my favorite.  Squaresoft was really going for a badass moment with that CG scene, and it worked.  But I have to give props to the scene introducing us to Cid's hospitality: "Now siddown and drink your damn tea!!!"


	12. Battle for the Pillar

Battle for the Pillar

Cloud sputtered as he came to. He was lying in a shallow river of sludge somewhere in the sewers of the slums, about the most disgusting place imaginable. "A trapdoor…how cliché is that?" he muttered. Looking around, he saw Tifa and Aeris lying near him. Rising to his feet, he roused Aeris and helped her to her feet, then Tifa.

"Ugh, this is terrible!" said Tifa.

"Well, the worst is over," replied Aeris. The three of them whirled around to face behind them as a loud rumbling sound came from the darkness of a long tunnel. Two glowing eyes soon appeared. "Or not…" amended Aeris as the creature emerged from the darkness. It was a huge green snake with cruel yellow eyes and a forked tongue flicking out through its fanged mouth, which curved upwards in a bestial grin as it eyed its prey. Cloud drew his sword and prepared to attack, but then he noticed an iron collar around the beast, with an attached chain anchoring it to the wall somewhere down the tunnel.

"It's chained! We can escape!" said Cloud. Tifa and Aeris nodded, and they started to run away from the creature. However, as they ran down the waterway, another rumbling sound approached, this time from their direction. They gaped as a huge tidal wave rose, sweeping towards them. Cloud barely had time to sheathe his sword to keep from losing it before the wave was on them. Cloud was swept up, tumbling helplessly in the foul water before it hurled him against the wall of the waterway. He gasped as he heard several bones crack from the impact and lay still in the now subsiding water. He saw Tifa and Aeris both also lying stationary. But as he looked up, he saw the snake approaching them. It opened its gaping mouth and bent down over Aeris.

"Not if I can help it," Cloud thought grimly, as he forced himself to his feet. Ignoring the pain in his chest, he drew his sword and rushed towards the creature. It turned as it heard footfalls in the water, only to get a slash across the face. It hissed as blood dripped from its face to mingle with who-knew-what other materials were in the water. It quickly bent down and snapped at the attacker, but Cloud was too quick, darting away just as the mouth closed where he had used to be, and used the opportunity for another strike at its face. It recoiled in pain, but quickly counterattacked, sweeping its huge tail into Cloud and again throwing him against the wall of the ditch through which the water flowed. Cloud yelled with pain as he hit the wall, his injuries now aggravated. He had hurt the creature, but it was clearly still quite alive. He, on the other hand, was badly hurt, and would never win this fight alone. He reached out mentally to the Restore Materia in his sword, and directed its energies to Tifa, stirring in the sludge behind the monster. "Come on, Tifa," Cloud silently urged as the snake slithered towards him, flicking its tongue at him. Tifa groaned and rose slowly, but gasped when she saw the creature approaching Cloud, preparing to strike. She started sprinting towards the beast. Cloud saw what Jessie had meant when praising Tifa; she really was fast. The snake turned its head to evaluate this new threat, but it was too late. Tifa threw herself into the creature, unleashing an unbelievable flurry of blows with her fists, finishing the attack with a somersault, kicking the beast in its already injured face. Blood again flew from the beast as it backed away from Tifa. Cloud used this reprieve to Cure Aeris. She recovered herself, and seeing the battle, raised her hand. Cloud gaped as her wooden staff suddenly materialized in her waiting hand. Aeris clenched the staff firmly and gazed at the beast, now recovering itself for another assault. A blast of flame quickly struck it in the face, and it screamed shrilly as the flame penetrated its open wounds.

"Cloud! Finish it!" Tifa called. Gritting his teeth, Cloud hauled himself once more to his feet. Gathering all his strength, Cloud leapt up into the air and thrust his sword into the creature's skull. Its screams ceased as the blade penetrated its brain, and it slumped down into the water, quickly followed by Cloud, the pain from his broken bones overtaking him.

He felt the blackness of unconsciousness start to overtake him, but he was called back into wakefulness as he felt the pain in his chest subsiding. He opened his eyes to see Aeris kneeling above him, holding his sword. The Restore Materia in its blade glowed brightly as he felt the healing energies mending his broken bones, and he was soon well enough to stand.

"Well, that was fun," remarked Aeris.

"Aeris, that staff…" said Cloud. "It just appeared in your hand!" He recalled how she had used it against Reno earlier in the church. She hadn't had it before the battle then, either. Aeris just grinned and shrugged. There was a lot more to this flower girl then met the eye. Not that there wasn't enough to meet the eye, thought Cloud.

"We've been delayed too long," said Tifa, looking downcast. "There's no way we'll get to the Pillar in time,"

"Tifa, don't give up so easily!" said Aeris, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's not easy to destroy a support Pillar, right?"

"And do you really think that Barret's gonna let ShinRa do it without a fight?" added Cloud.

Tifa brightened. "You're right! The rest of AVALANCHE should at least slow them down enough for us to get there. Alright, let's do it!"

"Aeris-" Cloud started, turning to the flower girl.

"Cloud, don't tell me to go home or not get involved," Aeris said tiredly. "You know what I'll say."

Cloud nodded. "Let's go."

They walked around the corpse of the snake and climbed out of the waterway onto the walkway that ran alongside it to make for a nearby ladder. Cloud was about to start climbing, but Aeris called for him to stop. Turning back, he saw her stoop over and retrieve a small orb. "Materia!" she exclaimed. She closed her eyes for a moment, identifying the Materia. "A Sense Materia," she said. "We can sense information about people with this, like their strengths and weaknesses."

"Excellent," said Cloud. "Good eyes, Aeris." She beamed, and he started to climb. He emerged from the sewers onto pavement. But instead of a street, Cloud was surprised to find himself surrounded by old wrecked train cars.

"The Train Graveyard," said Tifa as she climbed up, followed by Aeris. "We're close now! I've been here before. AVALANCHE sometimes meets here as a change from the bar to throw off the ShinRa. I'll lead the way."

As he followed Tifa through the maze of old train parts, Cloud recalled that he had seen this place from afar when he had stepped off the train after the first bombing mission. That was only three days ago, he realized with surprise. How much had happened since then. He had destroyed two Mako reactors and two ShinRa battle robots, dealt with President ShinRa himself, impossibly survived a huge fall, become bodyguard for this enigmatic flower girl, run into the Turks, confronted a slum crimelord, slain a huge serpent, and now was rushing to once again battle the ShinRa, this time for the fate of all of Sector 7. This was definitely NOT what he had signed up for when he accepted Barret's proposition to work with AVALANCHE. And he wasn't even getting paid for this. In fact, the closest thing he had gotten to payment for any of his activities since the reactor missions was Aeris' offer of a date for being her bodyguard, an offer he had never even agreed to. But still, he had to admit that what he was doing felt right, somehow. ShinRa had urged, indeed forced its employees to forget their own standards of morality. Indeed, independent thinkers within the organization could be dangerous. Someone who thought outside the box could even turn into another Sephiroth. And so Cloud had been taught to forget his ethics, and he had carried this mindset with him after his SOLDIER days into his career as a mercenary, where it had continued to serve him pretty well. Don't think about what you're doing, just do the job for the highest bidder and move on. But Aeris, Tifa, and even Barret had reminded him that there was more to life than mindlessly following orders. There was empathy, there was compassion, there was

_Destiny_.

Under Tifa's leadership, the trio soon found their way out of the "graveyard," and back to the still-functioning train platform. A train attendant stood there, idly looking up at the Pillar towering above.

"Hey, that Pillar might collapse!" called Tifa to the attendant. "You'd better get out of here!"  
The man sighed. "I know, I've heard. But I've worked at this platform all my life, and I just can't bear to leave, pillar or no pillar." He laughed softly. "Guess I'm like the trains. Gotta go where the tracks take me, right?" Cloud shook off a moment of déjà vu and led the three towards the base of the Pillar.

As they neared the base, a large crowd of people gazing up at the Pillar became visible. Next sounds of gunfire from above became audible. AVALANCHE was indeed doing their part. "We made it! The Pillar's still standing!" exclaimed Tifa in relief.

"Everyone, get out of here!" yelled Cloud to the crowd, silently observing the spectacle above. "That pillar is in danger! The entire slums might be crushed!" Murmuring nervously, the crowd slowly dispersed, leaving just Aeris, Cloud, and Tifa standing at the base. But they were soon joined. Hearing a scream steadily increasing in volume, they looked up in horror to see a pudgy man plummeting to earth from above. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch. It was Wedge, bloodied and broken. Cloud knew instantly that his wounds were too severe to be remedied by a simple Cure spell. Wedge was beyond his help.

"Wedge!" said Tifa horrified, bending down over him.

"Are you gonna be all right, Wedge?" asked Cloud.

Wedge let out a choked laugh. "You…remembered my name, Cloud" he said, smiling weakly before coughing, blood sputtering from his mouth. "Barret…is up there…with Biggs and…Jessie," he said, struggling to raise a hand to point upwards. "Tifa…Cloud…help them. Save the slums…"

"Aeris, take care of Wedge!" Cloud ordered. "Tifa, you come with me. We're heading up there." The two women nodded solemnly.

"Oh, and Aeris!" said Tifa suddenly. "In the bar called Seventh Heaven, you'll find a little girl named Marlene. Find her and take her somewhere safe!"

"Got it," said Aeris, as she knelt to tend to Wedge. Tifa turned back to Cloud and they started their ascent up the seemingly endless stairway which climbed all the way up to the catwalk encircling the Pillar far above.

They had gotten about halfway up before they encountered someone. Biggs lay prone on the stairs, surrounded by the bodies of several ShinRa soldiers. Tifa rushed to him. "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.

He tried to grin, but it ended up in a grimace. "Fine," he said. "Just get up there and help Barret and Jessie."

"But you're injured!" Tifa said.

"If you don't save this pillar, we're all gonna be a lot worse than injured," said Biggs.

"He's right, Tifa," said Cloud. "Just stay alive, Biggs. We'll be back."

Biggs smiled slightly. "So the mercenary cares after all?" Cloud smiled grimly and resumed the race upwards. They passed several more soldier's bodies, incapacitated or dead, and after about five minutes of climbing they reached what they had dreaded: another AVALANCHE member out of action. Jessie lay sprawled on the stairs near the top.

"Jessie, not you too!" exclaimed Tifa.

"Me too," sighed Jessie. "Cloud, you're still with us?" she said in surprise, eying the mercenary. "Glad I could talk to you…one last time."

"Don't say 'last'," said Cloud, bending down over her. "We're gonna take down these ShinRa bastards and save the slums, right?"

Jessie smiled. "Right. But I…can't help thinking…" she said, forcing out the words through her obvious pain, "is this our punishment…for causing the deaths of…so many innocents?"

"Jessie, we're the good guys, and don't you forget it!" said Tifa. "The deaths we caused were unintentional, and were because of us trying to save the planet. ShinRa is trying to wipe out an entire section of their own city just to squash a few political enemies!"

"Maybe…" said Jessie. "What do you think, Cloud?"

"We don't have time for this philosophical bullshit," said Cloud, looking to the platform above.

Jessie laughed softly. "So cool, as usual…I liked that in you…"

As they turned onto the final flight of stairs to the platform, they saw Barret lying on the stairs right beneath the platform. "No, not you too, Barret!" cried Tifa, racing over to him. To their surprise however, he turned his head, appearing unhurt.

"Dammit, get down!" he yelled, and Tifa and Cloud fell down behind Barret just in time to avoid a flurry of gunfire.

"So you're alright?" asked Cloud.

"Spiky-ass? The you doin' here?" said Barret in surprise.

"You complaining?" said Cloud.

"Hell no! Anyways, I ain't hurt, least not bad. But them damn soldiers got me pinned down here, and there's too many for me to take 'em out all before they get me."

"Well, now you've got us!" said Tifa.

"You kiddin'? You two don't have guns!" said Barret.

"Materia," Cloud said simply. Barret grinned evilly and nodded. "A'ight, on the count o' three we pop up and pop them, got it?" Cloud and Tifa nodded their understanding.

"THREE!" shouted Barret, and the three of them shot up. Tifa's Thunder electrocuted the leftmost soldier, who twitched for several seconds before falling. Cloud's Blizzard spell struck the soldier on the right, and he crumpled, all strength drained from his limbs due to the cold. Barret's gatling gun rattled loudly, downing the troops in the middle, leaving the platform empty. "Alright!" shouted Barret, crouching down and shooting his fist in the air, the "Barret dance" as Cloud again remarked to himself. They ran up from the stairs onto the platform at last.

"We did it!" exclaimed Tifa excitedly. "We saved the Pillar!"

"Not quite," said a familiar voice from the far side of the platform. Cloud turned with dread to see Reno, previously hidden by the Pillar extending up through the platform, walking casually towards them. He was clad in the same business suit, very untidy, with shirt wrinkled and untucked and hair in the same punkish hairstyle. This could be taken as sloppiness, but Cloud knew that it was meant to communicate an air of nonchalance and self-confidence.

Barret, however, was not impressed. "What? Who the hell are you?"

"Why don't you ask your SOLDIER friend?" said Reno. Barret and Tifa turned to Cloud inquiringly.

"He's a Turk. One of ShinRa's elite. Take him seriously."

"Seriously? Shit, there's one o' him, and three o' us!" said Barret, eying the Turk.

"True, but it only takes one to activate the bomb I just planted," replied Reno, producing a small remote from inside his jacket. He pressed the button and the device beeped. Cloud didn't have to be able to see the bomb to know that the Pillar, and the entire sector was now ticking down to destruction.

Barret raised his gun-arm to aim at Reno. "And now you're gonna deactivate that bomb," he said, staring down the Turk. Reno replied by dropping the remote to the ground and smashing it under his heel. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked Barret coolly. Barret screamed with rage, and Cloud prepared for him to unleash the fury of his gatling gun on Reno, but the gun was silent. Cloud turned to Barret only to see the AVALANCHE leader suddenly enclosed in a small, translucent yellow pyramid. Barret silently pounded on the structure with his massive fist, but he was apparently trapped. Reno evidently had more resources at his disposal than he had revealed in their last encounter. Barret again screamed furiously, but the pyramid blocked audio as well as physical penetration, and he was silent.

"Hmm, doesn't seem to have much to say after all," remarked Reno.

"How could you be so callous?" demanded Tifa emotionally. "You're destroying this whole sector! Thousands of innocent people will die!"

Reno shrugged. "Ain't my call. I'm just following orders."

Cloud felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this. He himself could have said those very words a few days ago. It could easily have been him up here, initiating the death of thousands with the press of a button. But no longer. He drew his sword, holding it before him threateningly.

"Look Reno, you're deactivating that bomb, or else you're gonna join all the rest of your ShinRa buddies dead on the floor," said Cloud.

"Go ahead and attack me. Even if you win, you'll still lose," said Reno, grinning confidently. "That remote was the only way to deactivate the bomb."

"Bullshit!" said Cloud, with more confidence than he felt. Reno of course couldn't be trusted, but what if it was true? "I'm only gonna ask one more time. Deactivate the bomb!"

Reno sighed. "Always the hard way with you, isn't it?" he said. "Fine, guess we have a little unfinished business from last time, anyway." He suddenly whipped out twin .45 handguns, and Cloud hit the floor to avoid the bullets streaking towards him. He rolled and rose to his knees, preparing to cast a spell, but Tifa beat him to it, striking Reno with a Bolt from her hands. Reno staggered backwards, but soon regained himself and turned his fire to Tifa. Tifa leapt to the side and did a cartwheel, dexterously dodging the bullets, but Cloud knew she couldn't keep it up for long. He unleashed his own Ice spell, and Reno stopped firing and shuddered. But he still wasn't down. He now split his fire, turning one gun to Cloud and one to Tifa. Cloud ran and dove behind the Pillar, out of Reno's sight, but Tifa reacted a split second too late. Cloud heard her scream, and peeked out from behind the Pillar to see her lying on the floor, blood streaming forth from her chest. He clenched his fists, blood boiling at the sight.

"Just you and me now, Cloud," called Reno loudly, but Cloud heard something else. Metal clinking on metal – the sound of Reno reloading his guns. Taking the chance, Cloud rushed out from his hiding place, sword raised.

Reno cursed and stepped to the right as Cloud's stroke fell, but still caught it in his left arm. He grunted as blood flew forth, but didn't have time to contemplate the injury as he once again had to quickly dodge Cloud's second blow. And once again, he was not entirely successful, this time getting a slash in the knee. He desperately raised one of his guns to block Cloud's third slash, but the enormous Buster Sword clove straight through the gun to bite into Reno's already injured arm. Reno grit his teeth to keep from screaming in pain. Already weakened from the two spells he had taken, he knew he couldn't keep this up. As Cloud prepared for an overhead hack to finish his opponent, Reno ducked and performed a foot sweep, taking Cloud's feet out from under him. Cloud toppled to the ground, but Reno knew that he would be up again in an instant, and turned to for the edge of the platform. And indeed, he soon heard the mercenary's footsteps behind him, steadily growing louder. But he wasn't fast enough. Reaching his destination, Reno deftly leapt over the railing at the edge of the platform, only to grab onto the waiting helicopter.

"Sorry Cloud, maybe another time?" he yelled over the roar of the helicopter's rotors.

"Damn you Reno, get back out here and fight!" Cloud yelled as Reno disappeared inside the chopper, only to be replaced by another suited man, this one impeccably groomed, and with long black hair.

"I wouldn't insult my boss, if I were you. You might make me injure our special guest," said the second Turk, producing Aeris from inside the helicopter.

"Aeris!" Cloud yelled.

"Cloud!" screamed Aeris in reply.

"Oh, you know each other?" said the Turk. "You should thank me, for letting you see her one last time before you die along with the rest of this sector.

"What does ShinRa want with Aeris?" demanded Cloud.

"How should I know?" said the Turk, shrugging. "All I know is that we've been ordered to capture the last remaining Ancient, and we finally did. I guess we have you to thank for bringing her right here to us."

"Ancient?" Cloud said.

"Oh, so she never told you?" said the Turk, eying his prisoner. "Oh well, doesn't much matter now! Oh, and your large friend might like to know about our second prisoner. You should tell him, it might be a comfort to him before he dies.

"Cloud, get out of here, quick!" called Aeris desperately. "I…" But the Turk shoved her back into the helicopter. "Sorry to break this up, but duty calls. Ciao!" He stepped inside the helicopter, and it promptly flew off to safety. Cloud cursed, but knew he could do nothing to stop it. All he had to worry about now was saving this sector. He ran over to Tifa, and to his relief, found that the wound was not fatal. He promptly Cured her, and rushed over to Barret, still pounding furiously on his prison. Drawing his sword, Cloud desperately slashed at it, and to his surprise, it promptly dissipated. Apparently only hits from the outside could destroy it.

"'Bout damn time!" said Barret. "We gotta disarm that bomb!"

The three rushed over to the other side of the platform, where they saw a large package of explosives strapped to the Pillar. But as Cloud had feared, there were no buttons or wires that could be used to diffuse the bomb. Reno had been telling the truth. The only way to activate or deactivate it had been the remote he had destroyed.

"So what do we do to turn it off?" asked Tifa.

"We can't," said Cloud. "That remote was the only way."

"Dammit, we gotta do somethin'!" yelled Barret.

"There's nothing we can do!" said Cloud. "There's no way to turn it off, and the Turks seemed to be in a rush to leave, which means that the bomb is gonna blow any second. All we can do is try and find a way off this pillar before it goes."

The three split up, frantically searching the platform in the dim hopes of finding some means of sudden escape before the Pillar blew, taking them with it. Cloud circled nearly all the way around the platform, but could find nothing to help them. So this was it, then. He was going to perish in defeat, having failed to save the slums and having lost Aeris to the ShinRa.

_Not yet._

Suddenly, Cloud noticed a long, thick wire extending down from the lighting systems on the bottom of the plate that were the closest thing to sunlight the slums knew. It looked sturdy enough to hold their weights, even Barret. "Hey!" he called. "We can swing out of here on this wire!" Barret and Tifa rushed over to him and without a second thought, grabbed the wire and leapt off the platform into the air. Mere moments later a huge explosion sounded behind them. Cloud craned his neck back as they flew though the air to see the Pillar collapsing, and the plate above starting to crack and fall to crush the slums below. Sector 7 was doomed.

Don't worry about Marlene being taken prisoner. It'll end well. All will be revealed in the next exciting chapter…but other than that, I changed next to nothing aside from dialogue. Wow. Don't expect that trend to continue for more than a chapter or two.

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee: I don't get enough sleep, true, but this story isn't the cause most of the time. I pretty much just write when I feel like it or am taking a break from work n' crap. And I don't plan on burning out anytime soon, but if I do, you're welcome to bug me until I return.

Kamweit Tetsaiga: Well, you never know how I'll change things…nah, don't expect Cloud to decapitate Corneo or anything. But I may have a little fun with him.


	13. Tales of an Ancient

Tales of an Ancient

            The wire carried the three to the desolate playground in which Cloud and Aeris had rested before reaching the Wall Market.  They disembarked and turned their eyes to Sector 7.  The large metal gate to it was open, but soon collapsed under the weight of all the debris from above, cutting the sector off from view and sealing its grave.

            "Marlene!!!  MAR-LENE!!!!!" screamed Barret in anguish, running towards the wall of debris blocking them from the gate to Sector 7.  He banged on it in vain.  "MARLENE!!!!!  Biggs, Jessie, Wedge… DAMN IT!  DAMN IT TO HELL!!!  WHAT THE HELL'S IT FOR?!?" he demanded, looking up to the sky.  He furiously fired his gun-arm randomly into the new wall of Sector 7, bullets ricocheting all over.

            "Barret, Barret, please stop…" said Tifa softly.  Barret sunk down to his knees, sobbing softly.  She bent down and hugged him, comforting him as best she could.

            "Barret…" Cloud said, remembering something the second Turk had said.  "I think Marlene is alive,"

            "What the hell you talkin' about?" asked Barret tearfully, still facing Sector 7.

            "The ShinRa captured Aeris, but one of them also said they had another prisoner, and that that would be a comfort to you."

            "The ShinRa have her?" said Barret, turning around at last.  Cloud was amazed to see any emotion in the man's face but anger, but indeed there were tears streaking down his bloodshot eyes.  "She's…she's alive?"

            "I think so," replied Cloud.  Without warning, Barret leapt up and trapped Cloud in a bone-crushing bear hug.

            "She's alive!  MARLENE'S ALIVE!!!" yelled Barret with joy, releasing Cloud, who fell down to his knees, gasping for the breath that had been crushed out of him.  Barret then laughed bitterly.  "Guess I got somethin' to thank ShinRa for, after all.  But still, Jessie, Wedge, Biggs…"

            "They never got away from the Pillar," said Cloud, getting back to his feet.

            "Think I don' know that?" snapped Barret.  "But we all fought against the ShinRa, we fought together…I don't wanna think of 'em as dead.  Long as I'm still here, they're with me…AVALANCHE IS STILL HERE, YOU BASTARDS!!!"

            "Barret…" said Tifa.  "Is this our fault?"

            "What're you talkin' about?" Barret demanded.

            "Something that Jessie said at the Pillar," Tifa said, looking down at the ground.  "Did we bring this on ourselves?  Is this our punishment for killing those innocent people in the reactor bombings?"

            "No!!!" said Barret emphatically.  "That ain't it!  Hell no!  It ain't us!  It's the damn ShinRa!  It's always been ShinRa!  They're the ones killin' the whole planet to line their own damn pockets with Gil, an' they're the ones who killed an entire sector of their own damn city just to try an' get us!  But they didn't get us, damn it, an' so our fight ain't gonna be over 'till we get rid of 'em!"

            "I don't know," said Tifa.

            "What the hell don' you know?  You don' believe me?" asked Barret.

            "No, it's not that," said Tifa, quavering.  "I just…I'm not sure about…my feelings…" she managed before bursting into tears.  Barret put a huge hand on her shoulder.  "An' what about you, big-shot?" he asked Cloud, standing silently away from them, facing away.  Without a word, Cloud started to walk away from them, towards a crazy looking, trashed road.

            "'Ey, where you goin'?" he called after him.  Cloud didn't respond.

            "It's probably about Aeris," Tifa said, wiping her eyes.

            "Yeah, who is this Aeris?" asked Barret.

            "I don't really know.  She's some girl who helped him after he fell from the reactor, and has been with us ever since.  She's the one who got Marlene from the bar, and I guess ShinRa captured both of them," replied Tifa.

            "She saved Marlene?" said Barret.  "Damn, I owe her big time!  We gotta save 'em!"

            Cloud strode along the remains of the road between Sectors 5 and 6, mind racing.  "The blood of the Ancients…rightful heirs of the planet." he muttered.  "Sephiroth…"

            "Yo, Cloud!" said a voice from behind.  He turned to see Barret and Tifa running to catch up to him.

            "You're gonna save Marlene an' this Aeris girl, right?" asked Barret.

            "I don't know what I'm doing," said Cloud.  "All I know is that there's something I have to find out."

            "What's that?" asked Tifa.

            "It's about the Ancients," said Cloud.

            "Ancients?  The hell's that got to do with anything?" said Barret.

            "I don't know," said Cloud, shaking his head.  "But I have to find something out."

            "Whatever, man," said Barret.  "Just make it fast.  I hate the idea of Marlene bein' in the hands of them greedy bastards!"

            Cloud nodded once more, and they proceeded towards their destination: Aeris' house.

            A short stroll through the slums and they were there at the charming cottage, bathed in rare sunlight.  Cloud felt uneasy about returning to Mrs. Gainsborough after having lost her daughter, but she had to know where Aeris was, and he needed answers of his own.  He knocked on the door and waited.  There was no response.  "They wouldn't have taken her mother, too?" Cloud thought.  "But how could she be the last Ancient?  Wouldn't her mother be one?  And if so, they would want her, too."  He needed answers, but it didn't look like he was going to get them.  He turned away and was about to leave when he heard bolts being released on the other side of the door.  He turned back to see the door open.  There was Aeris' mother, much as she had been before.  But there was a well-hidden, yet undeniable sadness in her face.  

            "I know, she's gone," she said simply.

            "I'm sorry," said Cloud, meaning it.  "It's my fault, I never should have let her get involved."

            "No, it's not your fault, Cloud," said Mrs. Gainsborough, somewhat surprising Cloud by using his first name.  She laughed sadly.  "Whenever Aeris wants to do something, she does it, and no one can do a thing to stop her.  And she wanted to follow you."  She looked past Cloud to his two companions.  "These are the two who were with you at the reactor, right?"

            Barret and Tifa looked somewhat uncomfortable at being identified by an average citizen as terrorists, but he assured them that it was alright.  "She hates ShinRa too.  Mrs. Gainsborough, this is Tifa Lockheart, and Barret Wallace."

            "Just call me Elmyra, all of you," she said, shaking their hands, though she had to switch from her right hand to her left to accommodate Barret.

            "Elmyra, there's something I'd like to ask, if you'd allow it," said Cloud, coming to the matter that had been bothering him since the Pillar.  "When Aeris was taken, the Turk who had her mentioned something about him being ordered to capture the last Ancient."

            Elmyra sighed.  "I…well, I guess you do have a right to know.  Please, come in."

            Cloud, Barret, and Tifa followed her inside to the central room of the house.  She gestured for them to sit, and they all sat at the same table at which Cloud and Aeris had dined so recently, and yet so long ago.  They looked at each other somewhat awkwardly, waiting for someone to begin.

            At last, Elmyra spoke.  "Aeris…Aeris is an Ancient."

            Tifa gasped and Barret rasied an eyebrow.  Cloud just stared intently at Elmyra.  "As far as I know, she's the only one left."

            "But what 'bout you?" asked Barret.  "You're her mother, ain't ya?"

            "Well, no," replied Elmyra, surprising even Cloud this time.  "Not her real mother.  It must have been about twenty years ago, during the war."

            "My husband and I had just been married when he was drafted and sent off to the front lines, some far away place called Wutai.  He had been gone for almost a year when I got a letter from him saying that he would be coming home on leave.  I was so excited, I went to the station every day without fail to see if he would be on it, to see if he'd come back to me.  But he didn't come back.  He never came back.

            'One day, on the way to the station, I ran into a strange woman on the side of the road.  She was dressed very strangely, and though she didn't look it, I felt that she was very old, very wise.  She was carrying a small child, hardly more than a baby.  She looked up at me, and she looked to be in great pain.  She whispered, 'please, take Aeris.  Take her somewhere safe.'  Those were her last words.

            'My husband was gone, and I had no child, no one to keep me company at home.  I was lonely.  So I took the child in.  We became close very quickly.  Aeris loved to talk. We would talk about everything, about Midgar, about the sky, about people, about the flowers that only she could grow.  She always said strange things though, things that I couldn't really understand.  She told me that she and her mother had escaped from someplace, some sort of research laboratory is my best guess.  So she knew that I wasn't her real mother.  But she said that she didn't really miss her real mother, because she had returned to the planet.  She said many things like that, about the planet.  She even claimed that she could speak to it."

            "Returned to the planet?  Whaddaya mean?" asked Barret.

            "I wish I knew.  I could never figure it out, either," said Elmyra, with a faraway look in her brown eyes.  "I asked her if she meant a star in the sky, but she said it was this planet.  She was always very adamant about that.  Even when she grew up, she kept saying such things about the planet, referring to it almost like she would a person.  It was very odd.

            'One day, Aeris said 'Mom, please don't cry."  She just blurted it out for no reason at all.  I wasn't crying at the time, and I didn't think I had any reason to.  I asked her what she meant, and she told me that someone near to me had just died, and that he had wanted to see me again, but had already returned to the planet.  I just thought this was childish nonsense, but still, it was unnerving to hear.  Then several days later, I received a notice that my husband had been killed in battle.  And that's the way it was…she was such a strange child, so different from anyone else I had ever known.  But we were happy.  Until one day, when a well-dressed man with slicked back hair in a ponytail came to the house."

            "The Turk…" Cloud muttered.

            "He had the nerve to ask me to give Aeris to them, to ShinRa!  Of course I refused.  Then he tried to convince Aeris to come.  He told her that they had been looking for her for a long time, which I guess they had.  She was much older by then, about ten.  I don't know how they found her here with me, but I guess that's their job.  Anyway, he told her that she was a very special child, that she was an Ancient.  And that's when it dawned on me.  Her unusual mother, her skill with flowers and plants, her supernatural connection with the planet.  Aeris was an Ancient.

            'He said something like the Ancients would lead us all to a land of supreme happiness, that Aeris would save all the people in the slums if she came with him.  But she refused.  She kept on denying that she had any unusual powers.  I certainly didn't disagree with her.  I didn't want her to go with ShinRa any more than she did.  She was my daughter, in a way.  And besides, if her mother had died escaping from ShinRa, then that was something I certainly didn't want to return her to."

            "You said that this happened when she was only ten?" asked Tifa.  Elmyra nodded.  "It's amazing that she's been able to avoid ShinRa for this long," Tifa said.

            "They didn't start actually trying to forcibly abduct her until recently," said Elmyra.  "And besides, they apparently needed her, so they couldn't harm her.  And now they finally got what they wanted."

            All the questions about Aeris that had arisen in Cloud's mind since that day in the church were now answered.  She was an Ancient, gifted with powers far beyond that of a mere human.  That was why she was so gifted with Materia, why she could summon her staff out of thin air, why she had such an affinity with flowers, and why her eyes had the same glow as his.  It was amazing that he had been in the company of the last remaining Ancient on the planet, and not even known it.  Or was she the last?  But that was a riddle that even Elmyra could not answer.  Suddenly, Cloud was struck by another question.  "How did you know that they had her?  Even right when we arrived, you knew it."

            "That's because they dropped by here when they had her."

            "What?  Why the hell'd they do somethin' like that?  Just to taunt you???" said Barret.

            "No, they dropped another girl off here, a young girl that they said Aeris had with her.  They said that it was a child of one of yours."

            "Mar…Marlene?" said Barret, hardly daring to hope.

            "So she's yours," said Elmyra, staring at him angrily.  "How could you leave a little girl like that alone when the Pillar was in danger of collapsing?  She would have died if it weren't for Aeris finding her!  What kind of father are you?"

            To Cloud's surprise, instead of a vicious retort, Barret looked down in shame.  "Please don't say that," said Barret softly.  "I think about that all the time, what might happen ta Marlene when I'm away.  But you gotta understand somethin'…I wanna be with Marlene, want it more than anythin' in the world.  But I've gotta fight, 'cause if I don't, the world ain't gonna be here much longer.  So I was fightin' the ShinRa up there on the Pillar, and I'm gonna keep on fightin' 'em as long as they're around.  But all the time, I'm always worried about Marlene, always thinkin' about her, wishin' I could just be with her…"

            Elmyra nodded approvingly.  "I understand.  She's upstairs now.  Why don't you go see her?"

            Barret's face instantly lit up, and without another word he rose from his seat and charged up the stairs, out of sight.  

            "I feel so terrible about getting Aeris into this," said Tifa.  "You kept her safe here with you all these years, and then she comes with us and she's gone."

            "She wouldn't have had it any other way," said Elmyra.  

            Under the table, Cloud clenched his fists.  This sweet, innocent flower girl who had done so much to help him, even while pursued by ShinRa herself, was the last remaining Ancient alive.  And now because she had helped him, she had at last been caught by ShinRa, who were going to do unthinkable experiments on her.  All because she had wanted to help him.  "No fucking way," he thought ferociously, and stood up, kicking his seat back.  "I'm doing it," he declared.  "I'm saving her."

            "Saving her?" said Elmyra.  "She's going to be in the ShinRa headquarters itself!"           

            "I don't care," said Cloud, face set.  "She helped me, and now I'm going to help her.  I'm getting her out of there."

            "Cloud…" said Tifa.

            "You don't have to do this for me," said Elmyra.  "I wouldn't ask you to march into the heart of ShinRa itself."

            "I'm not doing it for you," said Cloud.  "I'm doing it for her."

            "Then I'm coming with you," said Tifa, standing up.

            "I'm not asking you to," said Cloud.

            "And I'm not asking to come.  I just am," replied Tifa.  "You think I'd just let my childhood friend get himself killed by marching into ShinRa HQ alone?  You're going to need backup, and that's me."

            Cloud nodded, not unhappy at this.  "What about Barret?"

            Tifa considered.  "He's not one for passing up a fight with ShinRa, but since he's found Marlene after coming so close to losing her, I think maybe he'll want to stay."

            "True," said Cloud.  "Well, let's go up and tell him we're going, at least."  Tifa nodded, and they climbed the steps to a small hallway.  Immediately outside one of the hallway doors was Barret, kneeling on the floor, and holding his daughter tightly.

            "Daddy please, your whiskers hurt!" protested Marlene.

            "I'm so glad, I'm so glad you're alright," said Barret emotionally.  Tifa smiled at the touching scene, a hand on her heart, and even Cloud couldn't help cracking a grin, which he quickly wiped off.  "Hey, Barret!"  The AVALANCHE leader stood up, turning on him.

            "Dammit merc, can't you give a man a single moment o' peace with his daughter?" Barret demanded.

            "Just figured you'd want to know that Tifa and I are breaking into ShinRa HQ," replied Cloud coolly.

            "What???  You think you're goin' without me?"

            "I just thought that because you found Marlene and all…" Tifa started.

            "Dammit Tifa, didn' you hear a word I said down there?" asked Barret.  "Course I wanna be with Marlene, but I gotta fight!  'Sides, Aeris is the reason Marlene's still here at all.  You think I could jes stay here while you two go off an' rescue her?  Hell no, I'm comin'!"

            "Alright then, that's that," said Cloud, satisfied that he at least now had a reasonable team.

            Barret turned to Marlene once more.  "Marlene, 'hon, I've gotta go now, okay?"

            "'Course you do!" said Marlene.  "You have to save Aeris, right?"

            "That's right.  But I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

            "Okay, good luck!" said Marlene.  Cloud found it amusing that this girl didn't think twice about her terrorist father breaking into the headquarters of the most powerful organization in the world, but apparently that was how she had been raised.

            "Love ya, sweetheart!" said Barret, and descended the stairs.  Tifa smiled and waved goodbye to Marlene before following.  Cloud prepared to follow, but was stopped by the little girl.

            "Hey, Cloud, guess what, guess what!" He turned to face her.  She was staring at him eagerly, smiling with the knowledge of her secret.

            "What?"

            "Aeris was asking a lot of questions about you!" said Marlene.  "Is she your girlfriend?"

            Cloud rolled his eyes.  A young girl's infatuation with romance, nothing more.  "No."

            "I bet she likes you anyway!" said Marlene, grinning.  "I won't tell Tifa."

            "What???" demanded Cloud.  "What does Tifa have to do with this?"

            "Ah, you dummy!" exclaimed Marlene.  Cloud sighed exasperatedly.  Apparently, in Marlene's eyes, just because Tifa was attractive and a good friend of his, they were madly in love with each other.  He didn't have time for this.  "Whatever," he said, waving an offhand farewell to Marlene as he descended the stairs to follow Tifa and Barret. 

            "We ready?" Cloud asked his two companions.  They nodded.

            "I…can't thank you enough for doing this," said Elmyra .  "Aeris may not be my child, and I may not understand everything that she does, but I still love her more than anything."

            "I know exactly what you mean," said Barret sincerely.  Cloud peered at Barret with a cocked eyebrow.  "Do you mind takin' care of Marlene for a lil' while longer?"

            "Not at all," said Elmyra, smiling.  "It's been kind of nice to have a little girl back in the house, actually.  Just promise me that you'll come back to her, and not get yourself killed."

            "Nothin' in this world could keep me from Marlene," said Barret emphatically.

            "I believe you," said Elmyra.

            "Well, so this is it," said Barret.  "This is what's left o' AVALANCHE.  You n' me," he said to Tifa.  "And how 'bout you, spiky-ass?  You been workin' with us for a while; you officially joinin' us now?"

            "Does it matter?" asked Cloud.

            Barret and Tifa said their goodbyes and departed, leaving Cloud with Elmyra.  Again, Cloud was stopped by leaving by the sole remaining occupant of the room.

            "Cloud, if I'm not being too forward…" said Elmyra uncomfortably.  She cleared her throat, and lowered her voice.  "What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?"

            What the hell was with this dwelling on his relationship with Aeris?  "What do you mean?"

            "Well, it's just that Marlene said a lot of things…now I know that she's just a little girl, but…well, I thought I might have noticed something too.  I know her well, after all.  Aeris likes you, Cloud," said Elmyra, earnestly staring into his eyes.  "I'm not necessarily saying that she's carrying a flame for you or anything, but…well, she has a really good feeling about you, and, as I've said, she has a remarkable intuition."

            Cloud shook his head.  "I don't know about any of that, and frankly, I don't care," he said, wishing it were as true as he made it sound.  "All I care about is one thing, and that's saving her from the ShinRa.  I promise you, I will get her back."  Elmyra smiled, tears in her eyes, and nodded.  Without another word, Cloud walked out of the house and closed the door.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How'd ya like that?  Over six full pages of pure, unadulterated, pulse-pounding EXPOSITION!!!  Well, it comes right in between a chapter beginning and ending with a boss battle and the chapter[s?] of the infiltration of ShinRa Tower, so I s'pose it serves as a nice change of pace.  

"Fan-mail" replies:

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  Wow, I didn't know I was good at fight scenes yet either.  Thanksya.

Stratadrake:  Hmm, maybe I should have the good guys lose a battle or two as well.  Good idea.  And if they're gonna lose, the Turks might just be the ones to lose to, especially when my man Rude steps in.  For the pyramid, I see your point.  As I recall, in the game the thing didn't shatter, but just kinda faded away.  But shattering is certainly more dramatic.  If I'm not too lazy, maybe I'll change that.  Finally, as for the helicopter, that paragraph was supposed to be from Reno's point of view (when I switch paragraphs, it's often to switch characters' POV), so he could feasibly know about the helicopter.  It was kinda meant to be a surprise, anyway.  But that's just my style.  Always keepin' ya on your toes…I hope!

SleepingStarz:  Thanksya much.  And I certainly do intend to continue.  Some updates may take longer than others, but I'll be here.

Arriana:  I have heard about Advent Children, but aside from the fact that it's kind of a sequel to FFVII, I really don't know much about it.  As for my Cloud, this is just kinda the way he came out.  I actually intended to make him somewhat colder, but as I wrote he just evolved differently than I had anticipated.  I'm still somewhat split, but I kinda like my Cloud as well.  Mr. Strife has enough mental problems without having a Squall-syndrome.  Anyway, this lovely little story is the biggest writing endeavor I have so far, though I've done a few original, non-fanfic short stories.  Anyway, thanks for the support, and I certainly shall continue!

Okay, it's way past getting late (3 AM if you're interested, Dark ki, but it's a weekend, so it's okay), so that's all for now.  'Till next time, praise me, critique me, ramble to me, whatever strikes your fancy.  


	14. Road to the Sky

Road to the Sky

            "So, how are we getting to the ShinRa building?" asked Tifa as the group walked away from the Gainsboroughs' house.  "I don't even know how we can get out of the slums."

            "Yeah, thas' right," said Barret.  "ShinRa's shut down all the trains to an' from the slums since they found out how much we was usin' 'em to bomb their shit."

            Cloud's heart sunk upon hearing this.  This was news to him.  The trains were the only method of transit between the slums and Upper Midgar.  "I don't know," he said.

            "Dammit, there's gotta be some way ta get outta here!" exclaimed Barret, punching the air in frustration.

            "Like what?" snapped Cloud.  "You know as well as I do that the trains are the only way to get out of the slums, unless we leave Midgar altogether.  And a lot of good that would do us."

            "Wait!" exclaimed Tifa excitedly.  "I just remembered!"  Barret and Cloud turned to face her expectantly.  "On my way to Corneo's in Sector 6, I overheard some kids talking about some wire or something coming down from above near Corneo's mansion.  They claimed that it went all the way up to the plate!"

            "You're taking the word of a bunch of kids?" said Cloud, crossing his arms.

            "An' hell, even if it does go all the way up to the plate, you think we're gonna climb that whole damn way?" asked Barret.

            "Do we have any other choice?" asked Tifa.  There was that.

            "Don't matter!  None o' us is climbin' a fuckin' wire all the way ta the plate, even fancy-ass ex-SOLDIER here!" said Barret.

            "We might as well check it out," said Cloud.  "Tifa's right, it does seem to be the only way.  And who knows?" he said, shrugging.  "Maybe there will be a way to skip some of the climb."

            "Whatever, let's do it," said Barret.

            The three navigated the chaotic ex-highway that Aeris had first guided Cloud across, and made their way to the Wall Market.  They seemed to immediately draw the attention of the shoppers milling around.  Upon seeing the three, every bystander would without fail acquire a frightened expression and either shrink away or flee inside the nearest shop.  Of course, Cloud thought.  He, Tifa, and Barret were not only murderous terrorists, but they were also dead due to the collapse of the adjacent Sector 7.  In other words, not people one would want to encounter on a pleasant shopping expedition.  He grinned slightly as they jogged through the market to the far end, where Corneo's mansion lay.  Their journey was uneventful, as even beggars feared to approach them, and about twenty minutes later they stood in front of the Don's mansion.

            "I'd love to pay that sleaze back for what he did to us," said Cloud, fingering the sword on his back.

            "Another time.  We're almost to the wire, I think," said Tifa, taking his arm and guiding him past the mansion, down a dark back alley.  A mass of graffiti was visible on the walls, but Cloud's eyes were drawn instead to a black thread descending from above.  "There it is," said Tifa.

            "There it is, a'ight, but like I been sayin', there's no way we can climb that thing all the damn way ta the top!" said Barret.

            "Well, let's see if we can find anything else," said Cloud, eying the top of the fairly short painted wall.  He grabbed the wire and hoisted himself up until he could see what lay beyond the wall.  "Bingo," he said.

            "What's bingo?  What's bingo???" demanded Barret.

            "A junkyard," said Cloud.

            "What the hell good is a junkyard--"

            "Come look for yourself," said Cloud.  Cursing under his breath, Barret grabbed the wire and with great difficulty climbed to join Cloud.  "Shit…" said Barret quietly as he got the joke.  

            This was no junkyard in an ordinary sense of the word, but a vast field of towers of garbage akin to those Cloud and Aeris had traversed in Sector 5.  "There's our way up," said Cloud.  "Let's go."  Tifa followed them atop the wall, and they leapt down into the junkyard.  Cloud surveyed the towers.  Nearby Cloud spotted what appeared to be the tallest one, extending far up towards the plate above.  Jogging over to it, Cloud grabbed onto an old rusted car-body near the base and immediately started to scale it.

            "I don' like this," remarked Barret.  "What if this thing topples over with us way up there?"

            "Then we're screwed," said Cloud simply without looking down, and continuing his ascent.  Tifa followed him and eventually, so did Barret, muttering under his breath.  The climb was difficult.  Not only did Cloud have to find decent hand and footholds and keep from falling, but he had to keep from dislodging the piece of trash on which he was climbing, or from shaking the structure enough to cause the whole tower to fall, as Barret had predicted.  But despite the need for caution, Cloud felt rushed.  He knew that Aeris was held captive above, with horrible threats in store unless he could get her back.  "And I will," he thought determinedly, grabbing an old stove and hoisting himself up once more.  

            But even as he reflected on the necessity of haste in order to save her, another side of him was analyzing the validity of this view.  Why go through all this trouble for someone he hardly knew?  Because she's the last Ancient, he answered.  He couldn't let the ShinRa have her.

            "I don't care about that," Cloud corrected himself.  "Ancient or no, Aeris is Aeris."

_But you do care.  You must care._

            "Well, we made it.  What now?"

            Cloud looked up to see Tifa standing beside him, looking expectantly at him.  The three of them were suddenly safely atop the tower of garbage.  Cloud's head whirled as he tried to adjust to this sudden change of surroundings.  The tower swayed perilously as Cloud stumbled about.

            "Shit, man!" shouted Barret, grabbing Cloud and steadying him.  "The hell's the matter with you???  You tryin' to get us killed after we climbed all that?"

            "But I…" started Cloud, but deemed it better that he not tell about his black out.  He held a hand to his head, trying to forget it himself.  "Sorry," he said, regaining his composure.  He looked around, seeking an answer to Tifa's question.  "There's the wire," he said, pointing to a thin black line extending downwards about fifteen feet away.

            "You think we can jump that far?" asked Tifa.

            "One way to find out," said Cloud, and without preamble ran towards the end of the tower and leapt.  Extending his hands, he grasped the wire, swinging back and forth with his momentum.  "Next!" he called.  Tifa backed to the far edge of the platform, then took off in a run and jumped, easily clearing the distance and grasping the wire a few feet below Cloud.  They turned back to look at the third member of the party.

            "There ain't no way!" said Barret.

            "C'mon, Barret," said Tifa.  "You can do it!"

            "Not like you have much of a choice," added Cloud, though he had his reservations.  Barret was certainly strong, but his upper body more so than his lower, which would impair rather than help him in this situation.  Barret cursed, eying the formidable distance.  "A'ight, here goes," he said nervously, backing up slowly.  He let out a mighty roar as he ran and, when he reached the edge, he leapt with all his might.  He sailed through the air towards them like a cannonball, but before reaching them started to drop.

            "No!" cried Tifa.  Barret reached out desperately as he dropped and grasped the wire with his fingertips.  He drew it towards him and grabbed onto it, halting his fall.  The wire jolted violently, and Cloud feared for a moment that it wouldn't support all three of them.  But the wire was sturdier than it looked, and it held.  Cloud breathed a mental sigh of relief, and was about to start climbing when a rumbling sound from the side drew his eyes.  The tower, already shaken from his and Tifa's jumps, finally gave in to the massive Barret's, and fell apart, junk flying in all directions to litter the ground far below.  Barret whistled.  "Good timin' that thing had," he commented.  Cloud nodded, then began his climb to the nearby plate.  In a matter of seconds he reached the artificial sky.  There was, however, no hole in the plate anywhere nearby.

            "Barret!  Fire at the plate!" said Cloud.

            "Heh heh.  No problem!" said Barret from below.  Grasping the wire with his left arm, he raised his right and opened fire on the plate near Cloud's head.  The metal screamed under the impact of the bullets, which, instead of penetrating the target, went ricocheting off in unpredictable directions.  Cloud heard several scream right by his head.  "STOP!" he called, and Barret ceased fire.  Cloud surveyed the plate.  "Hardly even a dent," he remarked.  Which, of course, made sense.  The thing supported the entire city of Upper Midgar; it would have to be sturdy.

            "Well, what now?" asked Tifa.  Without a word, Cloud drew his Buster Sword.  Wrapping the wire around his left forearm to free both his hands, he gripped his sword and with all his might thrust it up into the plate.  It sank in up to the hilt, and Cloud drew it towards him, slowly making a gash in the plate.  Strangely enough, water started seeping through the new hole.  He repeated the process several times, and in a few minutes had carved a hole large enough for them to climb through.

            "Alright, Cloud!" said Tifa.  Cloud climbed up through the hole, emerging into the sewer systems of Upper Midgar.  "Great, more sewers," thought Cloud as he looked down at the foul water lapping at his ankles, thought at least enough water had fallen through the hole he had made to prevent him being knee-deep in filth.  Tifa soon rose through the hole herself, but Barret showed no signs of rising.

            "Waiting for anything in particular?" asked Cloud.

            "Shit, man, how d'you expect me to climb all the damn way up there with one hand?" demanded Barret from far below.  "Ya gotta pull me up!"

            "Screw that.  You're on your own," said Cloud.

            "Cloud!" protested Tifa, astonished.

            "Kidding, kidding," muttered Cloud, and he and Tifa took hold of the wire.  It took both of them pulling with all their strength, but finally they were able to pull the wire up high enough to raise Barret to the hole.  Barret promptly climbed through, and Tifa and Cloud both bent over, trying to catch their breath.

            "Oh, come on!  I ain't that heavy!" said Barret.

            "My arms beg to differ," remarked Cloud.  Tifa muttered an agreement, massaging her sore muscles.

            "Whatever!  Let's just get outta here!" said Barret.  They started walking through the muck, not having any real idea where they were going.  After several minutes of trudging, they came across a ladder leading up to a manhole.  "'Bout time!" said Barret.  "Had my fill o' sewers."

            "You have no idea," said Cloud, as he grasped the rungs of the ladder and started climbing.  He pushed up the manhole cover and peeked up through the hole.  They were in the middle of an upper-class neighborhood, with pleasant little identical houses and fake turf lawns.  Looking up, he saw the enormous ShinRa building looming above.  He was about to climb out, but hesitated, thinking.

            "What're you waitin' for?" demanded Barret from below.  "Let's get the hell outta here!"

            "No," said Cloud at last.  "We should get to the ShinRa building through the sewers.  It'll be more secretive."

            "Dammit, I don' care 'bout secrets!  I just wanna get outta this damn sewer!"

            "Cloud's right, Barret," said Tifa.  "Cloud, can you see the ShinRa building?"

            "Yeah."

            "How far away is it?" asked Tifa.

            "Only about a few miles," Cloud estimated.  "Let's go," he said, replacing the manhole cover.  climbing back down.  Barret cursed, but made way for him to drop back down into the sewers for them to resume their trek.

            "This is it," said Cloud, looking out from the manhole.  This was the seventh they had visited, with Barret growing increasingly agitated each time.  But they were finally there.  Cloud climbed out of the manhole and looked up.  There it was.  The enormous ShinRa building dominated the night sky above them.  It was in reality made up of several different structures, with the tallest being a one-hundred floor tower stabbing up into the sky, overlooking all of ShinRa's massive domain of Midgar.  So here he was, about to attack his previous employers.  How things had changed.  Long ago, he had dreamt of nothing else but being a SOLDIER.  Then he had achieved his dream, and served ShinRa alongside his hero, Sephiroth.  Until that fateful day when he returned to his hometown.  He shook his head.  SOLDIER, Nibelheim, Sephiroth… all of them were in the past now.  All that mattered was Aeris.  He grit his teeth and strode forward purposefully.

            "Damn," said Barret, peering up at the massive ShinRa building.  He had never seen it this closely before, but seeing the power and scale symbolized by their headquarters only strengthened his resolve to take them down.  He had, after all, been dreaming of storming ShinRa for a long time.  Of course, he had pictured himself having more than three people with which to do it, but if this was the way it had to be, then he couldn't think of two more worthy comrades than Tifa and Cloud.  Tifa was a lightning-fast, talented martial artist, and Cloud, though Barret would never say it, was indeed an incredible fighter, both with magic and with that huge sword of his.  So this was it.  Barret clenched his fist.  "Let's do it."

            Tifa stared up at the ShinRa headquarters in awe.  She had never realized just how large the thing was.  She gulped nervously.  She was scared, she had to admit.  Scared of failure, of course, but there was also a part of her that was scared of success.  She wasn't sure why, but she was afraid of rescuing Aeris, of what might happen afterwards…no, it didn't matter.  Rescuing Aeris was the right thing to do, and that was that.  But the lines between right and wrong had been blurring recently.  Even so, surely rescuing an innocent prisoner from a corrupt corporation was right.  Wasn't it?  She had so many questions, but no way to get answers.  The only thing she could do was just go along with the course of events in which she had been swept up.  Taking a deep breath, Tifa started to follow Cloud and Barret, calmly walking towards the stronghold of the most powerful organization in the world.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So yeah.  I didn't really understand how the whole "climbing the wire to an impossibly vertical road of random junk that happened to lead to ShinRa HQ" thing worked, so I changed it.  Whoop-de-doo.  And yes, I know this was a short and absurdly uneventful chapter.  Didn't intend for the journey to ShinRa tower to be so lengthy, but it just kinda was, and I was forced to make it into its own chapter.  Terribly sorry.  More interesting stuff next time. 

  
Stratadrake:  Sorry to keep you in suspense about sneaking in vs. Barretting in (hee hee, I just made Barret a verb!)  Next chapter, I promise.  Anyway, if the dialogue fits, I'll sometimes use it.  Naturally, due to the fact that the game is a translation and that it perhaps focuses on gameplay rather than optimizing the plot, I will change plot, including dialogue, when necessary.  But before I write, I like to read over the script of the game so generously donated by Neko-Underworld, and sometimes if the lines are good, I'll keep 'em.  As always, thanks for the corrections and advice.  And P.S.: what are the other good FFVII novelizations?

SleepingStarz:  Similes, eh?  Not my cup o' tea exactly, but they certainly are effective at times.  Maybe I shall try to work one in here and there.


	15. Infiltrating ShinRa Tower

Infiltrating ShinRa Tower

            The trio halted before reaching the main entrance to the building, a series of glass revolving doors with windows on each side.

            "What're we waitin' for?  Let's do this!" said Barret, preparing to sprint forward.          

            "What are you doing?" said Tifa, pulling him back.  "You're not thinking of just walking in the front entrance, are you?"

            "That's what we're here for, ain't it?" said Barret.  "I'm gonna bust some ShinRa heads!!!"

            "Are you crazy?" demanded Tifa.  "There's no way we can take on the entire ShinRa security force!  We have to use the element of surprise!"

            "I'm sick o' this sneakin' around shit!" said Barret.  "I ain't afraid o' dyin'.  Let's just do this!  We don't know how much time Aeris has got, right?  We gotta go!"

            "I know, but just walking in the front door is squandering what advantages we have!" said Tifa.

            "What the hell kinda advantages do we have?" asked Barret.  "There's three of us 'gainst all o' them!"

            "If we fight, yes.  But there are other options!" said Tifa.  "Our advantage right now is that we're dead!"

            Barret just stared.  "What the hell're you talkin' about???"

            "As far as ShinRa knows, we died on top that Pillar!" said Tifa.  "They won't be expecting an infiltration!"

            "Won't be expectin' a head-on attack neither!" Barret pointed out.

            "But if we march right in, that'll announce our presence!" exclaimed Tifa.

            "Fine by me!" said Barret.

            Tifa groaned in exasperation.  "Cloud, back me up here."

            "Tifa's right," Cloud said immediately.  "We're not here to kill ShinRa.  We're here to save Aeris.  The top floors are the most exclusive, so she'll probably be up there.  And I really don't relish the idea of fighting my way up one hundred stories.  We'll find another way in."  Barret growled.  "Fine then, find us this other way, hot-shot!  You should know all about this place, right?"

            Without a word, Cloud walked forward, being careful to keep well away from the main entrance.  He moved to the left of the front doors, walking towards the bare metal wall of the building.  "Where is it?" he muttered to himself, tracing the wall with his hand until his fingers sunk into a slight, barely perceptible slit, which he now saw ran all around a small square section of wall.  Cloud pushed down on this section, and it popped up to reveal a nine-digit keypad.  He punched in a code, and a section of the wall slowly swung open to reveal a doorway.

            "I know a little," he said in response to Barret's question.  Barret cursed as he and Tifa walked into the doorway, followed by Cloud, who punched a button on the inside wall to close the door behind them.  They were in a bare square chamber, at the foot of a stairway winding up the walls as far as the eye could see.

            "An emergency escape route for the company bigwigs, in case the elevators fail," Cloud explained.  "This thing goes all the way up to the ninetieth floor, where the main meeting room is."

            "Dammit, I'm sick o' climbin'!  An' now we got ninety flight o' steps?!" exclaimed Barret.  "But guess we don' have much of a choice, if this is the way we're goin'."

            "And it is," said Tifa.  "Lead on, Cloud."  Cloud nodded and started running up the stairs.  "Goin' fast enough, spiky-ass?," remarked Barret, as he and Tifa followed.  

            Five floors, ten floors, twenty floors, thirty floors they ascended, and the stairs showed no signs of ending.  Tifa and Barret started off at Cloud's pace without trouble, but Cloud was soon able to here their footsteps falter behind him, their breathing grow more labored.  They struggled on for several more floors before Barret's heavy, clunking steps stopped altogether.  Cloud turned to see him doubled over, leaning on the railing and panting, with Tifa right behind him.

            "…can't…go on," said Barret between breaths.

            "Barret, we…have to!" managed Tifa.  

            "Come on, we don't know how much time Aeris has," said Cloud sternly.

            "Dammit…all I know's that I'm flesh n' blood…'cept for this arm o' mine," said Barret, looking up at Cloud with hostility.  "Don' treat me like I'm some fancy-ass ex-SOLDIER or anythin'."

            "Barret!" exclaimed Tifa, staring at him accusingly.  "Cloud's just as human as you or me!"

            "Shit…don' see how any human can go on that fast an' not even be tired…" said Barret, still looking at Cloud.  Cloud shrugged.

            "Because I'm a 'fancy-ass ex-SOLDIER.'  Now if you care to follow, I'm going on."  And without another word, he turned and resumed his ascent.  Barret's string of profanities was cut short when he soon ran out of breath, and he followed, with Tifa behind.  And so it went on, each floor as bare and unremarkable as the floor preceding it and the one to follow.  Soon they forgot how far they had gone, how far they had to go, and everything except the screaming pain in their bodies and the step ahead of them (or, in Barret's case, the step three steps ahead).  Barret was not made for running, and would long ago have collapsed, but Cloud's cool comeback still fueled his anger to push him onwards.  That, and he had to be a real man and persist.  Tifa, too, felt that her lungs were about to burst, but she knew that she couldn't let Cloud down.  Even Cloud himself had been hurting for a while now, but he stoically forced himself not to show weakness, and to push onwards without slackening his pace in the least.  There were more important things at stake than a little bit of fatigue and pain.  And yet, why were they more important?  He'd already had this discussion, Cloud reminded himself as his feet pushed onwards.  But still, it was so strange.  How long had it been since he had felt so strongly about a goal?  Certainly he had not about the reactor bombings, or even the attempt to save Sector 7.  So why now?  It wasn't just because he felt obligated, due to the help she had given him.  It sure as hell wasn't Marlene's theory that they had some sort of romantic future together.  Thinking back, he remembered Aeris' appeal to him on the playground.  "I know what's for my own good.  Don't ask me how, but I just know.  And I know that I'm supposed to be with you."  And then her mother had said that Aeris, being an Ancient, had remarkable intuition.  So was she really supposed to "be with him?"  And if so, what did that mean?  He didn't even know where he'd be tomorrow, much less if someone with him would be feasible.  But still, he had to admit that…

            "Shut the hell up," Cloud told himself.  He was getting into dangerous mental territory here, and he would much rather focus on the dangerous physical territory which he was entering.  The pain in his legs and his chest became much more acute now that his mind wasn't elsewhere, but he still preferred this to his previous train of thought.  Physical pain he could deal with.  That's what he'd been trained for.  But mental and emotional quagmires were something to which he was entirely unaccustomed.  As much as he disrespected Barret's somewhat simple mindset, Cloud could sympathize with the terrorist's standard solution to problems: shoot it until it ceases being a problem.  Things were so much easier that way.  And thankfully, this would be a mission with little thought involved, aside from paramilitary tactics.  But even if their mission was successful and Aeris safely rescued, he would still have the problem of what to do with her.  Well, that was fortunately something that he didn't have to consider right now.  He turned his mind again to his feet.  Another step, another step, another step…

            After a seeming eternity of their monotonous, painful climb, AVALANCHE finally reached the top of the staircase, a platform facing a bare metal door.

            "Finally…made it…" Tifa gasped, leaning over and resting on her legs.

            Barret promptly collapsed to the floor.  "Never…wanna see…'nother damn step…rest o'my life…" he said, face down.  Cloud allowed them a rest.  They wouldn't be terribly stealthy if they were still gasping loudly for breath not to mention that he was tired enough himself.  They sat there resting for several minutes, regaining their stamina, but all too soon, Cloud rose again.  "Let's go" he said.

            "No damn way," said Barret.

            "Just another minute…" said Tifa.

            "Let's go," Cloud repeated.  Tifa slowly rose to her feet, as did Barret, grumbling.  Quietly taking a deep breath, Cloud reached for the handle of the door and slowly opened it a crack.  He listened closely.  He could hear voices, but they seemed far off.  He opened it a bit more and cautiously stuck his head out.  It was a deserted hallway, nicely decorated with various paintings and an eye-pleasing blue wallpaper.  There were several other doors, all interestingly along the right side of the hallway, while the hall itself curved to the left at its end.  Cloud tentatively stepped into the hallway, but all was still deserted.  He was about to gesture for the others to follow when suddenly, the nearest door to his own opened.  Cloud promptly dove back through the doorway, landing between Tifa and Barret.  He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he remembered that he hadn't closed the door behind him.  He listened with bated breath to the voices in the hallway.

            A low, husky female voice spoke first.  "I heard the…hey, what's that door doing open?"

            "What's even in that door?" said a higher female voice.

            "It's a staircase all the way to the bottom," said the first voice, to Cloud's alarm, getting closer.  He leapt up and stood up, sliding over to immediately beside the door.  He frantically signed for the other two to do the same.  Tifa slipped up right next to him, and Barret stood opposite them on the other side of the door.  

            "Why would anyone be using that?" asked the second voice.

            "No clue," replied the first one.  They were now right outside the door.  Cloud could hear their breath as they looked through the doorway to the apparently deserted stairway, praying that neither would decide to step through to look around.

            "Well, no one here now, at any rate," said the first voice.  The door was closed, and they again started to walk away.  The party simultaneously let out a sigh of relief, but Cloud promptly placed his ear against the cold metal of the door.  The door was fairly thin, and he could still hear the women's conversation.

            "Anyway, I heard the big board meeting starting," said the first voice.

            "Huh?  When did you hear that?"

            "In the bathroom."

            "What are you talking about?"

            "Didn't you know?  The architects didn't do such a great job with the ventilation systems.  Turns out that sound carries quite well from the board room through the vent shaft right to the ladies' room."

            Cloud grinned.  Good to know.

            "Ooh, really?  Hear anything interesting?"

            "Nah, I don't think they were really into anything interesting yet.  I hear that it has to do with that plate incident, and some girl they rescued before the plate went down.

            "Aeris…" whispered Cloud.  He continued listening until the voices disappeared, then cracked open the door and looked out.  The hallway was again empty.  "Tifa," he whispered, "go look in the women's room next door and check to see if it's empty."

            "What?  But why?" asked Tifa, confused.

            "Because it's better than me or Barret doing it.  Go."

            Tifa, having missed the women's conversation, didn't understand, but she complied nonetheless, slipping through the doorway and running over to the next door.  She opened it and peeked inside, then turned back to Cloud and gave a thumbs-up.  Cloud nodded.  "Come on," he said to Barret, and they ran over and entered the restroom, making sure to close both doors behind them.

            "What the hell we doin' here?" asked Barret.  Cloud opened the door of the first stall, and saw a ventilation shaft right above the toilet.  Indeed, he could hear voices issuing through the vent, as if from far away.  He climbed up onto the toilet seat, popped open the shaft cover, and entered.  "Follow me, and keep quiet!" he said to the other two, and started to crawl through the shaft.  It was a little cramped, but much better than the claustrophobia-inducing shaft they had encountered in their second reactor mission.  He saw light issuing up through another vent on the bottom of the shaft.  He crawled over to the vent and looked down.  

            There was the ShinRa executive board room.  A large, walnut square table dominated the plushly-carpeted room.  There were several figures sitting around it.  Cloud recognized President ShinRa at the table's head, with his back to the large windows overlooking the landscape of Midgar.  The pudgy man was now wearing a dark purple suit, but his spot of blond hair and cigar were just the same as in their previous viewing of him.  There were also several people who Cloud did not recognize.  To the right of the president was a robust, muscular man, with a thick, all-encompassing beard.  He had a booming voice and a frequent, loud laugh.  Perhaps he was from Corel, known for its large, hearty natives.  To the President's opposite side was a slender woman in a stylish, expensive-looking scarlet dress.  She was heavily made-up, and her blond hair was tied tightly in a bun to the back of her head.  She was pretty, but would be much more so were her face not stuck in what seemed to be a permanent sneer.  Next to her was a man of similar stature to the president, but even shorter and more rotund.  He was bald save for a few patches of grey hair on the sides and middle of his head.  Further down, on the other side of the table was a relatively unremarkable, handsome man, with well-groomed black hair and a small mustache.  While the rest of the board seemed to be in high spirits, this man had a downcast look, and more or less stayed silent.  After observing this man, Cloud noticed another figure sitting by himself at the far corner of the table, appearing even more introversive than the depressed-looking one.  This final member of the meeting was clad in a much-stained lab coat and had long, greasy black hair framing his angular, pale face.  He sat alone, occasionally muttering to himself, but otherwise silent.

            "Where the hell is he?  I'm ready to get this meeting started!" exclaimed the large man to the right of the President.

            "You know him.  If it's not a job, he's never on time," said the woman disdainfully.  "He has to appear all cool, like he has better things to do."

            "Better things to do than come to a meeting with the heads of ShinRa Inc.?" the large man replied.  "Why do we bother with him, anyway?"

            "We bother with him," the President said sternly, "because he's the best we have.  That's why he was the one we for the Pillar mission, and he accomplished it.  But if you don't like him, Heidegger, then I have good news for you."

            "Oh really?" said Heidegger hopefully.  He was no doubt about to ask what the good news was when the doors to the room swung open and in waltzed Reno, in the same or a similar unkempt business suit.  Reno grinned at the occupants of the room and nodded acknowledgement to the president before flopping down in a seat between the large and downcast men and leaning back, swinging his feet up on the table.  The large man stared disapprovingly, but Reno seemed unaware, or more likely simply didn't care.

            "Well, now that we're all here," said the President, "I guess we are ready to get started.  The first item up on the agenda is Reno's report on the outcome of the Sector 7 mission."

            "Well then," started Reno, without rising from his relaxed position, "what is there to say?  I arrived with the platoon of troops at about 2100, and we promptly took control of the Pillar.  AVALANCHE soon showed up, of course, and put up some good resistance.  We lost nearly all our troops, in fact, but we took down most of them in return.  The only ones I didn't personally see shot were the three that I hear were involved in the second reactor mission.  There was the big guy with the gun on his arm, their leader, I think, and an ex-SOLDIER with a big-ass sword.  They all showed up with some scantily-clad little tart on the platform right as I finished setting the bomb.  I trapped the leader in my trademark Pyramid, took down the girl, and made my escape on our helicopter right before the Pillar collapsed.  While I was busy on top of the Pillar, my subordinate, Tseng, acquired and captured the Ancient as ordered, as well as some little girl that she had in her care.  The daughter of that girl I killed on the platform, I think."  Barret clenched his fist furiously as everyone in the room gasped at the news at an Ancient having been recovered.  Everyone, of course, except the President, who was already informed.

            "What?  A child of AVALANCHE?" asked the President.  "Why wasn't I informed of this?  Do we still have her captive?"

            "Nope," said Reno casually.  He sniffed the air.  "What is that smell?"

            "The architects had the foresight to connect the ventilation shaft for this meeting room to the women's bathroom," said the President.  "Therefore there is quite frequently a rather unique odor to our meetings."

            "Yeah, I know," said Reno.  "But it's about three times worse than usual," he said, turning to look behind him at the vent in the roof.  Cloud, Barret, and Tifa hurried to back up, lest they be seen.  Cloud was suddenly conscious of not having bathed in several days, during which period he had been through several battles and other exertions, including wading through two sewers.  He cautiously looked back through the vent, and saw that Reno had turned back to the group, and AVALANCHE returned to their spots surveying the meeting from above.

            "Now, if you're finished discussing the aesthetic deficiencies of this room, perhaps you would care to enlighten us as to why exactly you didn't bring this girl back as prisoner?" said the President.

            "I made my own call," said Reno, shrugging.  "I only had orders to bring back the Ancient, so I was under no obligation to bring back any other prisoners."

            "I think it should go without saying that any other prospectively valuable prisoners should be detained until I say otherwise," said the President, trying to restrain his anger.

            "Why bother?" asked Reno.  "I killed her mother on the platform.  The daughter wouldn't be of any of use as a hostage."

            "Not only this mother; we have crushed AVALANCHE once and for all!" boomed Heidegger triumphantly.  

            "I wouldn't be so sure of that," said Reno.

            "What are you talking about?  All of AVALANCHE was on the Pillar when it collapsed!" said Heidegger.

            "Yeah, but I didn't see them all die," pointed out Reno.  "These terrorists are pretty resourceful, especially the ex-SOLDIER working with them.  If there was any way off that Pillar before the bomb blew, he'd find it.

            "Certainly, there was a way off.  Jumping!  Gya haa haa haa!!!" laughed Heidegger.

            "Heidegger, please cease that moronic guffaw," said the President tiredly.  Heidegger nodded, lowering his eyes.  "Now then, I believe that it is time for a report from the Urban Development Department on the state of Sector 7.  Mr. Reeve?

            "What about this Ancient that was mentioned?" asked the blonde woman.  "Do you really mean-"

            "All in good time, Scarlet," assured the President.  "Now, Mr. Reeve?"

            The downcast looking man slowly rose to his feet and cleared his throat.  "Well, as I'm sure we all know, Sector 7, as well as its underlying slums, has been completely wiped out.  Against my fervent protestations, I might add…"

            "Cry me a river!  Get on with it, Reeve!" said the blonde woman.

            Reeve again cleared his throat.  "We have now figured out a rough estimate for the damage inflicted.  Considering all the factories and industry we established in Sector 7, not to mention all the housing and citizens lost, the damage estimate for the sector is approximately 10 billion Gil.  The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is-"

            "We're not rebuilding," interrupted the President.

            Reeve just stared for a moment.  "What???" he said incredulously.

            "We're leaving Sector 7 as it is," said the President.  "Rebuilding would be too costly."

            "But sir, you can't just destroy an entire sector of your own city and leave it-"

            "We are not rebuilding.  I feel I've been very clear on this point, Mr. Reeve," said the President calmly.  "But don't despair, you will get some additional funding.  I want the Mako power taxes raised by 15% in all areas."

            "Tax hike!  Tax hike!" said the short, grey haired man.  "Please include the Space Program in the budget, this time!"

            "Reeve and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the tax increase," replied the President.  The pudgy man lowered his head, disappointed.

            "Scarlet?  Why the hell does the military need additional funding?" asked Reno.

            "Lay off, Turk!  The big kids are talking!" spat Scarlet.

            "I know I ain't a big decision-maker here," returned Reno.  "But if you invite me to your "big kid" meetings, then I'm going to comment as I see fit."

            "You're forgetting your place, Reno!" said Heidegger.  "A Turk follows the President's orders, not questions them!"  Reno scowled and crossed his arms, but said nothing.

            "Now, if we're finished with that…" the President said darkly, "then I believe I have another announcement concerning Reno."  Reno looked towards him expectantly.  "Reno, you will be temporarily taken off duty as a Turk."

            "What?!" demanded Reno, shooting up from his seat for the first time since he had arrived.  "I accomplished the mission?  Why?!?"

            "Of course, Reno, you did fine," said the President, all the sudden a nursemaid comforting a scolded child.  "But the helicopter got video footage of the fight, showing AVALANCHE in combat with the forces of the benevolent ShinRa.  We broadcast this footage to every major news network to further degrade AVALANCHE, and boost our own PR for saving citizens from the dangerous terrorist threat."

            "Son of a bitch…" Barret muttered angrily.  Tifa slapped him and the three of them again ducked back to avoid being sighted, resuming their positions a few moments later.  

            "You, of course, were included in that footage," said the President to the Turk.

            "And of course I wouldn't be much good as an undercover operative if everyone in Midgar recognizes me on sight," finished Reno quietly.

            "We will be promoting Tseng to leader of the Turks until we deem appropriate for you to resume your position."  Reno nodded, satisfied with this, as far as it went.

            "But that still only leaves you with two.  There's always been at least three Turks," said Reno.  "Do you want me to pick out a third?"

            "We've already done it for you," said the President.  "Elena Kinneas will be promoted from the Legal Reconnaisance Division to serve as the third Turk.

            "Kinneas?!  That ditz?!?  You've gotta be kidding me!" exclaimed Reno.  The President shook his head.  "If you're gonna fire me for however long, at least let me choose my replacement!"

            "I'm afraid she's already been sworn in," said the President.  Reno shouted in frustration and stormed out of the room, slamming the doors behind him.  Heidegger instantly burst into laughter.  "Gya haa haa haa!!! That was certainly worth the wait!" he bellowed.  "The look on his face when he heard he was being replaced!"

            "I thought you would enjoy that," said the President, smiling.  

            "What about this Ancient???" demanded Scarlet.  "Reno mentioned her in the beginning of this meeting, and we've heard nothing about her since?  Have we finally captured an Ancient?"

            "_The_ Ancient," corrected the henceforth uninvolved man in the lab coat sitting by himself.  "The sole remaining Ancient remaining on this planet is finally mine."

            "How is the girl, Hojo?" asked the President.

            Hojo rose from his seat and started pacing back and forth across the table from the President.  He seemed to tremble slightly whenever he spoke, as if shaking with the uncontrollable excitement of the news which he was honorable enough to impart.  "As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother, most likely due to the dillution of Ancient blood from crossbreeding.  I'm still in the process of comparing her vitals to her mother's.  For now, it appears that the difference is 18%, but of course, more tests are necessary to obtain a more accurate reading.  Perhaps a PK-15 scan would reveal…" he started, before relapsing into muttering to himself.

            "President, what does this mean?" asked Reeve.  

            "It means, my dear Reeve," the President said grandly, "that we are at long last restarting the Neo-Midgar project."  Gasps of surprise rose from everyone seated around the table.  "All surplus funds not already allocated will be diverted to it.  This girl, this Ancient, will lead us to the Promised Land!"

            "The Promised Land?  Pfft!" said the pudgy man.  "It's just a myth!  Why look for some imaginary land on this world when we could be exploring whole new worlds?"

            "Shut up, Palmer!" Heidegger said impatiently.  "This is excellent news, sir!" he said, turning back to the President as would an eager dog awaiting a pat on the head from its master.  The President smiled and nodded.  "Hojo!" he said.  The scientist snapped back from his murmurings to the board room.  "How long will the research take?" asked the President.

            "Hard to tell, hard to tell…" said Hojo.  "My estimates are that obtaining accurate readings and deciphering them will take at least 120 years."

            "120 years???  We'll all be dead by then!" exclaimed Heidegger.

            "Dead and decomposing," Hojo agreed.  "The Ancient included.  That's why I'm going to breed her.  I will create a very long-lived specimen which my successor can use to continue my research."

            "So none of us will actually see the Promised Land?" the President asked, disappointed.

            "Science cannot be rushed," said Hojo, shaking his head along with the rest of his body.  "This specimen is valuable, but has her flaws which must be accounted for.  Yes, many flaws, tragically, many flaws.  But we will discover her secrets…is this meeting over?" he asked suddenly.  "I have many affairs to attend to."

            "Very well, this meeting is adjourned," said the President, and the board members started to file out, their elation much dissipated with the news that the long-awaited research would not be completed in their lifetimes.

            "Affairs ta attend to?  I don' like the sounda that!" said Barret after the room had emptied.

            "We have to stop him," agreed Cloud.  "Hojo…"

            "Yeah, head o' ShinRa's Science and Research Department," said Barret.  "Friend o' yours?"

            "No, I've never met him.  But I knew of him…" said Cloud.

            "Well, it don't matter now.  Let's follow him!" said Barret.

            "Which way should we go?" asked Tifa.  "There didn't seem to be any way up from the end of the hallway we were on."

            "That's true," said Cloud.  "Let's go this way," he said, indicating the opposite direction from which they had come.  Barret and Tifa nodded, and Cloud led them along the shaft.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A bit sudden of an ending.  I was planning to include everything up until the "Trail of Blood" scene in one chapter, but then realized that would be getting rather long, so I just cut it off after the big board meeting.  Even so, I had to cut out all the wandering around through floors 60+, but I was gonna do that anyway.  I'm sorry, but I have trouble accepting that ShinRa's top employees would freely give rare Keycards away to a big angry man with a gun on his arm and a slightly smaller angry man with a huge sword without a second thought.  As always, gimme your comments, criticisms, compliments, conundrums (slight non sequitur, but I couldn't bear to give up the alliteration.  Plus conundrums is a fun word.)

Stratadrake:  Thanksya.  Always interesting to check out the competition…er, comrades…  And I knew all along that they were gonna sneak in, but just didn't spoil it for you.  Seems like the only real choice to me.  I mean AVALANCHE is good, but this is the entire ShinRa security force we're talking about.  No three person squad in their right mind would burst in and expect to win in a straight fight.  True, you can do it in video games, but I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible.

SleepingStarz:  There's a few similes in there, for ya.  Oh, and I may have to dispute your claimed "Supreme Ruler" status.

Stefan + Macky:  Thanks.  I make no promises as to how much I'll do, but I have no plans on stopping anytime soon.

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  Hinding?  Wha?  I'm afraid more careful typing and explanation is necessary for my comprehension.


	16. Rescue?

Rescue?

            Professor Hojo ambled away from the meeting, irritated at the waste of time it had been.  He had, after all, just gotten the specimen for which he had been waiting his whole career, and then the President had the audacity to drag him away from her to participate in some worthless routine to tell a bunch of bureaucratic imbeciles things about his research that they would never understand anyway.  He had much more important things to do.  His first priority, he had decided, would be to breed the Ancient with his other newly acquired specimen.  Ideally, the offspring produced would possess the Red's longevity while still possessing a sufficient concentration of Ancient blood to be useful for research.  If not, his successor would have only records of the Ancient to work with, which was something no real scientist would be satisfied with.  Hopefully the Red would cooperate, and not immediately kill the Ancient upon exposure.  But there were always risks involved in science, risks any true scientist had to be willing to take.  And he was a true scientist.  He trembled as he laughed quietly to himself.  Oh yes, a true scientist indeed.  Hojo was so deep in his contemplations of his intelligence and ingenuity that he didn't notice that he was being observed, didn't notice the vent on the wall next to him pop open, didn't notice a mercenary, a barmaid, and a terrorist leader slip out and begin to follow him.

            Hojo inadvertently led AVALANCHE up several flights of steps until leaving the stairwell to a very industrial-looking floor.  There were none of the comforts of the 90th floor here.  Everything within sight was bare metal, and the atmosphere was saturated with the whirs and clanks of the plethora of unidentifiable computers and machines surrounding them.  It certainly seemed the type of place where this scientist would feel at home.  There were two paths, one directly to their right, leading to a hallway devoid of machinery, the other straight ahead until it curved slightly to the left, its destination obscured by a large, round machine.  Hojo took the second of these paths, and AVALANCHE followed.  Hojo soon halted, and AVALANCHE halted, taking cover behind the round machine to watch.  Hojo was speaking with a much younger, and saner looking man.

            "So you want the Ancient, _and_ the Red?" asked the assistant, incredulously.

            "I want the Ancient inserted first, then Red XIII," said Hojo, gesturing to a machine to his right that appeared to be a large cylinder with a part of its bottom a movable platform.  An elevator, perhaps.  The assistant nodded uncertainly and walked off.  Hojo stood for a moment, staring at the cylinder, laughing silently to himself before moving off.  Creeping forward, Cloud saw him enter an elevator at the far side of the chamber, which then ascended.  Cloud was about to follow, when something in the round machine caught his eye.  He turned to look, and saw that there was a round window displaying the machine's contents.  Slowly, as if held in a spell, Cloud walked forward.  He heard voices speaking to him, but they didn't matter.  All that mattered was whatever this machine contained.  Entranced, he slowly bent down, and peered into the window.  At first nothing was visible, only a mass of indistinguishable pink shapes.  But gradually, a vague outline began to emerge from the mist.  He had never seen it before, but it still seemed familiar somehow.  All too familiar.  He had known it all his life.  It was a part of him.  It was…

            Tifa cried out as Cloud collapsed, and ran forward to catch him before he hit the unforgiving floor.

            "The hell?" said Barret.

            "Cloud?  Cloud!" Tifa said desperately, but he was out cold.  What had happened?  Why did he keep passing out like this?  He had done it at the reactor, and now again.  What was wrong with him?  She felt so useless, so futile.  Here her best friend was, unconscious in her arms, but she didn't know what was wrong or what in the world she could do to help.  "Cloud, please…" she pleaded.

            "JENOVA!" Cloud yelled as he awakened with a start.  He shot to his feet and backed as far away from the machine as he could.

            "Cloud, what happened?  What's wrong?" asked Tifa fearfully.

            "Jenova…they…brought it here…" Cloud stuttered, pointing to the machine.  Barret walked over and looked into it.

            "What the hell?  Where's its damn head?" said Barret.

            "Jenova…" was all Cloud would say.

            "This whole thing's stupid.  C'mon, we gotta save Aeris!" said Barret.

            "Right…" said Cloud.  He hadn't known that Jenova was still alive.  So it had been here all these years.  Or was it 'she'?  He shook his head, trying to tell himself that that day in Nibelheim was in the past, that it didn't matter.  But here was an ugly reminder of it, sprung to life right in front of him.  The only thing that could be worse is if Sephiroth himself emerged from around the corner.  

_You see?  You cannot escape the past._

            Cloud whirled around, sword instantly in hand, screaming a battle-cry.

            "What the hell's yo' problem?!?" demanded Barret, grabbing the mercenary.  "There ain't nobody there!  An' we're goin' that way!" he said, turning Cloud to face the elevator which Hojo had taken.

            "Cloud, what is it?" asked Tifa worriedly.  "I want to help-"

            "Nothing.  I'm fine," Cloud said, instantly the stoic mercenary once more.  "Come on, we've gotta free Aeris before this experiment happens."  Barret nodded and followed Cloud, but Tifa stood behind for a moment, staring at her friend.  He hid it when he could, but he was obviously very troubled.  A Mako reactor, and now this Jenova had set him off…what was it?  She wanted to scream with frustration, but there was no time to deal with emotions now.  She tried to ignore her worries the best she could and followed the two men into the elevator and up to the next floor.

            The doors opened to another floor much like the previous one, but Cloud's eyes were immediately drawn from examining his surroundings to the canister which appeared to be identical to and directly above the one below.  Sitting on the floor inside the glass prison was Aeris, looking dejected and hopeless.

            "Aeris!" Cloud called out, rushing forward.  She looked up, and her visage immediately brightened with hope at the sight of him.

            "Oh, is that her name?"  Cloud turned.  Hojo stood directly behind him, overlooking his 'specimen'.  "She never told me.  What do you want, anyway?"

            "We're taking her out of here," said Cloud as Tifa and Barret rushed to his side.  "Let her out."

            "Let her out?" Hojo said in a high voice, then began to laugh hysterically.  "I can't do that!" he said when he had recovered what presence of mind he had.  "The experiment is about to begin!"

            Wordlessly, Cloud drew his sword and held it to Hojo's throat.  Hojo didn't even flinch, and evenly returned Cloud's cold stare.

            "Oh, so you're going to kill me?" asked Hojo.  "I don't think you should.  Who would be here to operate this delicate equipment to ensure the safety of your Ancient friend?"

            Cloud hesitated.  He had a point.  Hojo started laughing again, and Cloud was forced to withdraw his sword to make sure that Hojo didn't accidentally impale himself with his shaking.  "That's right," he said at last.  "I suggest you logically plan your actions before you make a rash move you may regret."  He turned around and looked above, to a small control room where his assistant stood.  "Bring up the second specimen!" he called.  The assistant called, and pushed several buttons.  Cloud could do nothing but watch.  The platform in the middle of the canister descended, leaving Aeris on the edge of the chamber.  However, the platform soon returned.  Only it was no longer empty.  Perched on the elevator was a creature of no species that Cloud recognized.  A human-sized cat would be the closest comparison he could make, but this did not do it justice.  It had fiery-red fur and a mane of darker red hair running along its upper spine.  Its long, darker-red tipped tail idly swung back and forth as it examined its new environment.  Oddly, it had a feathered headdress and two locks of hair on either side of its face, all appearing distinctly human.  But the oddest feature were its bright green eyes, which took in its surroundings with what seemed to Cloud almost a human intelligence.  But then the green eyes fell on Aeris, and they narrowed to slits.  It growled menacingly as saw the human before it.  Aeris backed up against the glass, eying the beast with terror.

            "What are you doing???" demanded Cloud.

            "Lending a hand to two endangered species," said Hojo, eying the scene in the glass with interest.  "Both of these specimens are the last examples of their respective species.  Without my help, their species will become extinct.  So I am breeding them to create offspring to propagate the species.

            "That don't look like no propagatin'!" exclaimed Barret as the creature reared back on its hind legs, preparing to pounce upon its victim.

            "Are you blind?  That thing's gonna kill her!" exclaimed Cloud.

            "Oh no, Red XIII would never do that," said Hojo, eyes not moving from the canister.

            "Enough of this bullshit!" yelled Barret, and he raised his gun-arm and opened fire on the canister.  The glass was strong, but soon gave way under the bullets' assault.  It shattered, and Aeris ran to Cloud, throwing her arms around him.  The creature immediately made its move, leaping claws first not upon Aeris, but upon Hojo.  Hojo struggled, but the creature's vicious attack had caught him completely off-guard, and he soon lay still, unconscious.

            "Cloud…so you did come for me," said Aeris softly, looking up from his shoulder into his eyes.

            "Of course…" said Cloud, returning her gaze.  He vaguely remembered questioning why he had been so intent on saving her, but those questions all vanished from his mind.  For some reason, this moment made it all worth it.

            But the moment was cut short when the creature turned from Hojo to face them.  Cloud promptly released Aeris.  "Stand back," he said to her as he drew his sword, striking a battle stance to await its strike.  But to his astonishment, it didn't leap, but instead opened its mouth, turning to Aeris.

            "I apologize for my behavior in the container," it said as all the humans stared in shock.  Not only did it speak, but it had a cultured, intelligent-sounding accent.  "I was hoping that seeing his precious specimens about to fight would convince him to cease the experiment.  I obviously underestimated his callousness in areas of scientific research.

            "It talks?!?" said Tifa in wonder.

            "I'll talk all you want later, Miss," it said, turning its cool gaze to her.  "But seeing as Hojo's laboratory assistant has escaped," it said, inclining its head to indicate the now empty control chamber above, "I suggest that we leave this area as soon as possible before he informs others as to the events which have just transpired here."

            "As soon as 'we' leave?" asked Cloud.

            "Yes, we," responded the creature coolly.  "You all have the same goal as do I, I believe.  Namely, escape from this facility.  Therefore, I suggest that we combine forces that we may work together to achieve our mutual objective."

            Cloud was still hesitant.  The creature was obviously not an unintelligent beast.  But still, could it be trusted?  Well, it would have nothing to gain by attacking them while they were trying to escape, so they could work with it for that long, anyway.  "Alright then, um…" he said, unsure how to address it…him?

            The creature, sensing Cloud's problem, spoke.  "Hojo designated to me the name Red XIII, a name which has no meaning whatsoever for me.  You may call me what you wish."

            "But don't you have a name of your own?" asked Aeris.  "Something that you call yourself?"  The creature didn't respond, only looked anxiously again to the control chamber where Hojo's assistant had been.  The point was not lost on Cloud.  "Okay, Red XIII it is," he said quickly.  "But I don't know how we're going to get out.  That elevator didn't go down any further than the floor below us."

            "I've been here for a while, and know a bit of the layout," said Red XIII.  "I believe that at the other end of this floor, there is an elevator with access to any level of the building.  We can take it to the bottom."

            "A'ight!  Let's rock!" said Barret, and the four humans followed the creature up a ramp and along a stark metal hallway.  "Here it is," said Red XIII, stopping at a set of metal doors.  He reared up on his hind legs and punched button with one of his forepaws.  The doors immediately opened, and they all rushed inside.  The elevator's walls were glass, and as it turned out, the elevator was actually on the exterior of the building, thereby providing them with a wonderful view of the incredibly unwonderful vastness of Midgar.  But eye-pleasing or no, they had no time to spare to observe it.  Cloud moved forward to a pedestal in middle of the chamber, with buttons for every floor.  He was about send the elevator down when he suddenly felt the touch of cold metal against the back of his head.  Cloud froze.

            "Would you push the 100th floor button?" said a deep bass voice from behind him.  Cloud tensed his body for a moment, preparing himself, then sprung into action.  Whirling around, he attempted to grab the gun, but his enemy had anticipated this.  Withdrawing the gun before Cloud had a chance to take it, he instead grabbed at Cloud.  Cloud struggled, but before he knew it he was down on his knees, with an arm in a vicegrip his neck, the other arm covering the rest of the group with the gun.  The gun silently motioned towards the pedestal.  Slowly, gazing at Cloud the whole time, Tifa stepped forward and pushed the button for the 100th floor.  The elevator started to rise, and the man released Cloud, throwing him against the glass wall.  Gasping for breath, Cloud now saw that his assailant resembled Barret in skin tone and height, though somewhat lighter and shorter.  But here the resemblance ended.  This man was lean but still quite muscular, as Cloud had found out firsthand.  He wore a small, stylish pair of opaque sunglasses completely concealing the eyes in his bald head, but more telling were his .45 handgun and his spotless black and white business suit.

            "The third Turk…" Cloud gasped, still regaining his breath from the choke-hold.  The man didn't react, just stood silently, stoically watching his newly acquired prisoners as the elevator carried them up, into the trap.

            The elevator doors opened to reveal the recently appointed leader of the Turks, Tseng, waiting for them.  "Glad to see you made it," he said with a suave smile.  "This is what, the second time, now?" he said to Aeris, who scowled at him.  He took no notice, and drawing a bunch of handcuffs from his jacket, proceeded to restrain all of them.  He then marched them all in a single file line out of the elevator, though the handcuffs significantly restricted Red XIII's four-legged movement, forcing him to almost hop along.  They were led straight into a large, luxurious office, with a series of large windows along the back wall overlooking the President's domain.  And indeed, sitting at the large desk in the middle of the office was none other than the executive of ShinRa, leaning back in his leather chair and casually smoking a cigar.  He sat up slightly as the prisoners approached, but only slightly.  "Well, I see that the snare worked."

            "The hell you talkin' about???" demanded Barret.

            "Do you mean you knew that we were here all along?" asked Tifa.

            "Not at all," laughed the President.  "I actually have Reno to thank for it.  Unlike many of the rest of us, he was convinced that there was a possibility that you survived the Sector 7 incident, in which case you would undoubtedly try to rescue your Ancient friend.  So, for his last act as leader of the Turks, Reno told his two coworkers to stand guard near Hojo's laboratories."  He gestured to the two Turks standing behind them with their hands behind their back.  Tseng smiled and bowed deeply, while the taller man did not react.  "Evidently, Reno's suspicions were well-placed.  Despite his…excessively independent attitude, he truly is great at his job.  And so here you are, complete with the Ancient," he concluded with a satisfied grin.

            "The girl is a Cetra???" said Red XIII in amazement.

            "But of course!" said the President.  "Cetra, or the Ancients were once the ruling race of this planet.  Now, they are just a forgotten page in the history books.  Except for this girl," he said, gesturing to Aeris, who looked down and blushed.  "I'm expecting a lot out of her.  She will be the one to lead us to the Promised Land."

            "The Promised Land?" asked Red XIII.  "Isn't that just a legend?"

            "How can we be sure until we've looked?" replied the President, shrugging.  "Besides, even if it is a legend, it's too tempting a prospect not to pursue."  His eyes acquired a far-away look.  "A perpetually green land, untouched by the seasons, always alive and fertile…"

            "So that's it!" exclaimed Cloud.  "Where the land is fertile, there's Mako!"

            "You're just after it 'cause it can give you more Mako ta suck outta the ground!!!" yelled Barret, furiously.

            The president grinned.  "Alas, you know me too well," he said.  "The Promised Land will be the site of Neo-Midgar, the glorious new capital of ShinRa Incorporated, the new capital of the world!" he said, eyes gleaming.

            Barret cursed vehemently.  "Quit dreamin', bastard!"

            "Oh, but didn't you know?" the President asked innocently.  "All that it takes these days to make your dreams come true are money and power.  I have both.  You, on the other hand, are a ragtag bunch of terrorists in handcuffs."  Barret cursed again.  "My my, and you expect to claim moral superiority over me with language like that?" asked the President.  Barret glowered at him, wishing for the life of him that his gun-arm were free.  "This concludes our meeting.  Take them away."

            Tseng walked up to lead the five out of the room, but Barret resisted.

            "I ain't finished with you yet, you money-grubbin' son-of-a-bitch!"

            "If there's anything else, talk to my secretary," said the President, taking a drag on his cigar.  Barret spat on him, but was dragged away by Tseng to join the rest of the group, again being crowded into the elevator to be taken down to their prison.

            Cloud paced back and forth restlessly in his small prison cell.  It was empty except for a toilet in one corner and a small cot in the other.  Tifa lay asleep on the cot, but at Cloud's movement she slowly stirred and sat up.

            "Cloud, you should get some rest," she said.  "I'll give up the bed if you want."

            He shook his head.  "I've gotta figure out some way to get out of here."

            "You're so brave," said Tifa admiringly.  She then rolled over on her side to get back to sleep.  Brave, maybe.  But all the bravery in the world wouldn't get him out of here.  And neither would his sword or any of their equipment, since it had all been taken away from them.  He had already tried the door multiple times, tried to pick the lock, burst it down, force it open, and nothing had worked.  Without any equipment, he was out of ideas.  He banged on the wall in frustration.  To his surprise, a voice responded.

            "Hello?  Is someone there?"  The voice sounded like Aeris, but muffled, as if from a great distance.

            "Aeris?  Is that you?" said Cloud.

            "Cloud!"

            "Are you all right?" asked Cloud.

            "Yes, I'm fine," she responded.  "So you came for me, and got captured for me."

            Cloud smiled.  "Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?"

            She laughed from the other side of the metal wall.  "Guess so."  Her voice changed somewhat, becoming almost coy.  "So…the deal was for one date, right?"

            Tifa instantly sat up in the bed, and yawned loudly.

            "Tifa?" Aeris said, in surprise.  "You're there too?"  
            "Oh, excuse me.  Was I interrupting anything?" she asked innocently.  Everyone went silent.  Cloud raised an eyebrow.  What exactly had just happened?

            Finally, Aeris spoke, changing the subject from whatever it had been before.  "I'm sorry, you two.  I'm sorry I never told you all."

            "What do you mean?" asked Cloud.

            "About my being a Cetra.  And I'm sorry I made you go through all this all for me.  It's all my fault."

            "No," said Cloud.  "You helped me after my fall, you helped us both at Corneo's, and you saved Barret's daughter.  After all that, you think I'd just leave you in here to rot?"

            Cloud heard her smile rather than saw it.  "I knew you would come.  Somehow, I knew."

            "Aeris, I have a question," Tifa broke in suddenly.

            "What?" asked Aeris, somewhat taken aback.

            "Does the Promised Land really exist?" asked Tifa.

            Aeris sighed.  "I don't know.  It's…hard to explain."

            "Can you try?" said Tifa.

            "Well…all I know is that Cetra are born of the Planet…we come from the Planet, speak with it, and ultimately unlock its secrets.  And when we finally become one with the Planet, then it will lead us to supreme happiness.  And I guess that's the Promised Land."

            "Become one with the planet?" asked Cloud.

            "The Planet, Cloud.  Not the planet," corrected Aeris, detecting the discrepancy in his emphasis.  "It's as alive as you or me.  In a way, it's even more alive."

            "Sorry," Cloud said, somewhat understanding.  He had learned a little about the nature of the planet…Planet during his days with ShinRa, but had never before met an Ancient who took it so seriously.

            "How do you speak with the Planet?" inquired Tifa.  "Can you hear it now?"

            "Not now," said Aeris.  "So high up, away from it, with so many people yelling and blundering around…no, I can't hear it from here.  Really the only place I can hear it is in the Sector 5 church.  That's one of the reasons I spend so much time there.  But my mother…my real mother, I mean, told me that someday I'll escape Midgar and speak with the Planet…and find the Promised Land."  Her voice changed to indicate hesitancy.  "I don't know why it's me…" she said.  "I guess because I'm the only one left," she said with a small laugh.  "But I'm not that special.  Compared to the Cetra of old, I'm practically human."

            "I resent that," Cloud joked.  Aeris laughed softly, a welcome sound in the dismal prison cell.  "But, my mother always tells me that I'll speak with the Planet and discover my Promised Land.  I thought I wouldn't hear her voice anymore, when I got older, but I still hear her from time to time…"  she trailed off.  Cloud didn't know how to respond to this, so he walked over to the other side of the cell, and sat on the cot next to Tifa.  

            "I wonder if Barret and that Red XIII are here, too," mused Tifa, and she put her ear against the wall.  Cloud did the same, and indeed, he heard Barret's unmistakable booming voice.

            "…then they're gonna suck up all the Mako from the Promised Land!  Dammit, I ain't gonna let that happen!"  Silence for a few moments.  "How 'bout you?  You care 'bout any o' that?"  Still, no reply.  "Damn, you're so boring."

            "Grandpa…" said the creature finally, in a forlorn voice.

            "Wha?  Gran'pa?" said Barret, then burst into laughter.

            "What is so funny?" asked Red XIIIl solemnly.

            "Nothin'…" said Barret, still chuckling.  "Heh heh.  Gran'pa."

            Satisfied that all of the party was alive and nearby, Tifa removed her ear from the wall, as did Cloud.  "Cloud, you really need some sleep," said Tifa earnestly.  "How long have you gone without rest?"

            Cloud considered.  "Since early in the morning of the day I met you in Corneo's."

            "That long?!" Tifa exclaimed.  "You must be exhausted!"

            Cloud shrugged.  "I'm alright.  I can go on without sleep if I have to."

            "Well, you don't have to now, so you're going to sleep," Tifa said sternly.

            "Not a bad idea, I guess," admitted Cloud.  He lay down on the bed, and was almost instantly asleep.  Tifa smiled affectionately.  He always had to be the stoic, never showing any signs of weakness.  She was up to her neck in problems.  Her bar had been destroyed, along with many of her friends, she was being held prisoner as a terrorist by the most powerful corporation in the world, and her own emotions were becoming more tangled than ever.  But seeing her equally troubled friend at peace made her forget her problems and be almost content, if only for a fleeting moment.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  No offense intended.  As long as you're not one of those people who mixes up spelling/grammar because they don't know or care (and apparently you're not), then you're good, in my book.  [offers hand]  We coo'?

Stratadrake:  You always leave me a lot to respond to.  Which is a very good thing, don't get me wrong.  Okay, here we go:

100 v. 70 floors:  Yeah, that was intentional.  I figured 100 would be more fitting of a company of ShinRa's opulence.

"Not questions them":  I felt that was kinda shaky, and figured that if it was wrong, someone would say so and I'd correct it.  Done and done.

"The" toilet:  You hate me doing that, don't you?  Well this time, I'm innocent.  If you'll read again, I said that Cloud opened the door to the first stall, thereby telling which toilet it was.  So HA!

Quiet when Sephiroth breaks in:  A very good point, and one that I might have forgotten, having not played the game for a while.  I shall make sure to capitalize on that.  Thanks.

Ending "Volume One" after this chapter:  Nope.  I found a good place to cut it off, so I did so.

Ending "Volume One" after escaping Midgar:  I'm not sure about that.  True, Sephiroth's appearance is very significant, but you (the gamer/reader) don't know how or why until Cloud Explains It All (if anyone gets that joke, please make me feel like less of a dork and say so) at the inn of Kalm.  In my eyes, that's the real turning point: when you realize that your primary enemy is no longer ShinRa.  But your point is valid; t'would be kinda spiffy to split off into a new volume, especially if there's a word limit on stories (is there?)  I shall consider.

SleepingStarz:  How to upload stories?  Well, you create a User ID thingy, then go Document Manager, and upload your Word document or web page or whatever.  I'm far from an expert either, you may want to seek more in-depth advice elsewhere.  If you do make one, be sure to lemme know.  And as always, your enthusiasm is much appreciated!

Sephiroth:  Wow, a good review from the man himself.  I'm flattered, good sir.  Please do not slay me.


	17. Escape from ShinRa

Escape from ShinRa

_The way is cleared.  Awaken._

            Cloud's eyes snapped open, and he was instantly wide awake.  He wasn't sure what had done it, but for some reason his warrior instincts had seen fit to awaken him from the first sleep he had had in days.  He glanced down at Tifa, asleep against the wall near the cot.  She seemed fine.  Then he turned his eyes to the cell door, and saw what must have awakened him.  For whatever reason, the door was open, retracted into the ceiling.  Cautiously, wary of an ambush, he rose to his feet, and slowly walked over to the door to see what was going on outside.  But even his hardened mind wasn't ready for what he saw in the hallway outside.

            Blood.  Blood everywhere.  Human blood.  Blood in pools on the ground, blood splattered all over the walls, blood slowly, ominously dripping down from the ceiling.  The corpses of the two ShinRa guards had been horribly dismembered, body parts strewn everywhere.  One of their heads lay on the ground staring emptily up at him, a look of utmost horror on his face.  The other head seems to have vanished altogether.  But it seemed that the two guards simply wouldn't have had enough fluid in their bodies to create the gruesome scene which Cloud had walked into.  The air was heavy with the stench of death, but also completely silent.  Cloud remembered that this was the floor where he had seen Jenova, and there had been a constant drone of machines in the background.  But there was nothing now.  No sound of any life or movement, whether from human or machine.  The silence lay on him heavily, broken only by the occasional 'drip' of blood falling down from the ceiling to splatter on the cold metal floor, now warmed somewhat by the mess of human entrails.

            Cloud just stood for a moment, completely paralyzed by the horrific celebration of human mortality.  Finally, he regained his senses, and realized that if the guards had suddenly perished, then this would be their chance to escape, if they could elude whatever or whoever the mysterious killer was.  Looking around, he saw their equipment where the guards had left them, in a locker that had now been forced open.  Glancing inside, he saw that nothing appeared missing.  He grabbed his sword and sheathed it and put on his belt and wrist-bands.  Now all that remained was to awaken his teammates for the escape.  He considered simply cutting open the door with his Buster Sword, but he didn't really care to draw attention to himself, whether the attention of the ShinRa or the morbid killer.  Walking over to the guards, he took a deep breath and bent down to examine a corpse, or what remained of one.  He soon found a key clipped to his belt and retrieved it.  He decided to awaken Barret and Red XIII first.  Barret, with his macho attitude and Red XIII with what Cloud had discerned to be a cool, calculating personality should be able to better deal with such a scene than the two women.  He walked to the leftmost cell door, inserted the key into the keyhole to the door's right, and twisted.  The door promptly rose with a hiss, to reveal the huge Barret sprawled out the best he could on the tiny cot and Red XIII curled up on the floor.  Red XIII immediately opened an eye, and seeing Cloud standing there, rose to all four feet.  "You're free?" asked Red XIII.  Cloud nodded, but silently beckoned for the creature to come look outside.  It did so, and Cloud saw its green eyes widen as it surveyed the scene.  "What manner of fiend would take such twisted joy in killing?" said Red XIII rhetorically.

            "I can think of a few," said Cloud, but suddenly felt his stomach drop as the truth of his half-joke hit home.  He had seen Jenova on this same floor.  What if..?  No, it couldn't be, he decided.  But he still felt even more on edge than he had been when he first walked into the horrible hallway.  He tried to forget his suspicion as he left Red XIII staring in awe at the spectacle as he grabbed Barret's gun-arm from the locker and went to awaken him.  Despite how uncomfortable it must have been for a man of his size to gather all of himself onto such a small bed, Barret was sleeping very soundly, and Cloud had to practically punch him in the face to awaken him.  "Eh, wha…spiky-ass?" said Barret groggily.  "The hell you doin' here?  An' where's that cat thing?"

            Cloud responded simply by handing Barret his gatling gun.  "'Ey, I been missin' this thing!  But wait…" Barret paused as his awakening mind realized the implications of being armed by his comrade, who had freely walked in through his open cell door.  "What's goin' on?"

            "We're breaking out," said Cloud simply.

            "A'ight!  But…how?"

            Cloud motioned for Barret to follow him outside.  After re-attaching his arm and patting it affectionately, he complied.  He stopped suddenly when he saw the gore all over the hallway.  "Shit…" he said in awe.     

            "Cloud…that is your name, correct?" asked Red XIII.  Cloud nodded, eyes still glued with a morbid fascination to the remnants of humanity in the hallway.  "Cloud, do you have any clue what did this?" said Red XIII.

            "I don't know," responded the mercenary.  "I woke up, and my door was open.  Then I walked out and this is what I saw."

            "How peculiar…do you have any allies that would commit such acts?" said Red XIII.

            "No way!" exclaimed Barret, finally regaining the capacity for speech.  "AVALANCHE may kill when we have ta', but we don' make such a fuckin' show outta it.  This is just sick…"

            "Agreed.  Indeed, it is difficult to believe that any human would be capable of…this…" said Red XIII, turning back to gaze at the gore.

            Cloud finally realized that there were still more teammates to be freed.  "Barret, go get Tifa out of my cell, and try to help her deal with this," he commanded.  "I'll get Aeris."  Barret nodded and, grabbing Tifa's belt from the locker, entered her cell.  Cloud retrieved the cell key from the lock and walked over to Aeris' cell, unlocked it, and entered.  He found her awake, to his surprise, sitting on her cot and looking down.  She looked up at him and tried to smile, but failed miserably and resumed looked down at her feet.  "There's been a lot of death here," she said sadly.  "Something horrible has happened."

            Cloud sighed.  Apparently there was no shielding an Ancient from the ugly truth.  "Come on, follow me," he said softly, offering his hand.  She took it, and he helped her to her feet and out of the cell.  Indeed, her reaction upon seeing the blood outside was not one of horror and shock, but just of grief.  "I wanted to escape more than anything…but not like this…," she said heavily.  "Not like this…"  Cloud nodded and put his hand on her shoulder.  She looked up at him and smiled slightly, this time for real.  Cloud glanced over and saw Tifa gaping in utter shock at the death before her, with Barret awkwardly trying to comfort her.

            "We need to get moving," said Cloud.  Red XIII, the most able to function under the circumstances, nodded and started nudging Barret's legs from behind.  Barret, startled back into reality, leaned down to Tifa, still apparently in shock.  He whispered in her ear and she nodded slowly, starting to walk forward mechanically, as if in a dream.  Indeed, they were all stumbling forward slowly, focused not on the escape, but on the sheer horror of the massacre.

            "What has transpired here is awful, and should not be forgotten," said Red XIII, noticing their torpor.  "However, we must focus not on the horror which we have witnessed, but on the horror that ShinRa commits every day, and will continue to do unless we escape to resist them."

            Barret stirred.  "Dammit, he's right!" he said.  "We're in here 'cause o' ShinRa, an' they're tryin' to use Aeris here to make their greedy selves even richer at th'expense o' the planet!  Well, I ain't gonna let it happen!  We gotta get outta here!"

            Cloud nodded grimly, as did Aeris, who had after all been forewarned of the violence through her queer intuition.

            "Excellent," said Red XIII, seeing their return to their senses.  "The only question now, then, is where do we go from here?"

            "Well, we gotta head down to get out, right?" said Barret.

            "True…" said Cloud, thinking.  "But there are some things I need to check out first."

            "What?" asked Barret.

            "I need to know who did this," said Cloud.

            There was a shocked silence for a moment.  "Why the hell d'ya need to know that???" asked Barret.  "All I know is I don't wanna run into the guy, an' that's all I wanna know!"

            Suddenly, Tifa staggered and fell to the floor.  Cloud bent down to help her, but she promptly retched and vomited, crying violently.  The surroundings had put her in no shape to escape, Cloud realized.  "Barret!" he said, standing back up.  "Stay here with Tifa!  Aeris, Red XIII and I will go upstairs and see if we can find anything."

            "Whatever, man," said Barret, crouching to comfort Tifa.  "Jes' don' get yo'selves killed."  Cloud nodded and led his two comrades along the blood-stained hallway.  The hallway soon ended, and Cloud recognized the main room of machinery into which Hojo had led them, though the machines were still eerily silent.  Cloud tried to ignore the atmosphere and walked over to the machine that he feared the most.  The Jenova machine.

            "What's that, Cloud?" said Aeris, eying his cautious approach.  Cloud hardly heard, focused only on the machine.  It had been broken open, sliced cleanly open with a sharp blade, and it was totally empty.  "No," he whispered.  It was true, then, all but certain now.

            "Cloud, what's wrong?" asked Aeris worriedly.  He shook his head.  It was impossible, but here it was, right before his eyes.  He wrenched his eyes from the cursed former prison of Jenova to see a trail of pink liquid mingled with blood, leading up to the elevator to Hojo's upper laboratory.  Without a word, Cloud ran towards the elevator, and Red XIII and Aeris barely made it in time before he took it upwards.

            They followed Cloud, who refused to answer any queries on what was happening or where he was going.  He just ran, ran all across the floor until reaching the elevator they had taken previously.

            "Cloud, we can't leave without Barret and Tifa," said Aeris, but to her surprise, Cloud sent the elevator not down, but up, to the 100th floor.  The pink trail continued here, all the way across the floor of the office and through a glass door to the balcony outside.  But their attention was arrested by the President, still in his chair.  Only now he was decapitated and slumped over on the desk, a puddle of blood staining the expensive wood.

            "What in the name of the Planet has happened here?" Aeris asked fearfully.  Cloud silently walked forward to examine the corpse of the President.  The head had born shorn off, but there was another wound: a single, straight penetration that went all the way through the President's body.  Bending down to examine the floor, Cloud saw a matching hole immediately below the wound.  It was obviously an extremely long sword that had made this blow.  And he knew of only one swordsman with a blade that long.

            His head jerked to the side as he heard a shuffling from the other side of the desk.  A small, pudgy, suited man bolted, making a run for the elevator, but was cut off as Red XIII deftly leapt to block his path, growling menacingly.  The man backed off, veritably whimpering with fear.  Cloud recognized him from the board meeting as the head of ShinRa's Space Program, Palmer.

            "P, p, please don't kill me!" Palmer begged.  "I didn't do anything!  My program never even succeeded!"  Cloud walked over and grabbed the man by the collar, lifting him into the air.

            "What happened here?" Cloud said, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

            "It…it was…him!" stuttered Palmer.

            "Who?" demanded Cloud.

            "Se…Seph…Sephiroth!" he blurted.  Aeris and Red XIII gasped at this unthinkable news, but Cloud just nodded, his suspicions at last confirmed.  So Sephiroth had returned, to wreak havoc on the corporation which had ruined his life.

            "You are sure that you saw Sephiroth?" asked Red XIII.

            "Would I lie at a time like this?" said Palmer frantically.  "Long grey hair, cape, huge sword, it was him, all right!  He came, and he…he killed everybody!  Said something about finding the Promised Land!"

            "Promised Land?" said Aeris, confused.  "So does that mean he's here to save the land of the Cetra from ShinRa?  He's…a good guy?"

            "No way!" Cloud said emphatically.  "I know Sephiroth!  His mission isn't that simple!"

            As they were discussing Sephiroth, however, Palmer managed to struggle out of Cloud's grip and resume his dash to the elevator.  Cloud moved to intercept him, but Red XIII stopped him.  "Let him go," it advised.  "He's been through enough tonight."

            "Like we haven't," thought Cloud, but submitted and let the panicked man escape.

            "So Sephiroth has returned from the grave to wreak havoc on his former employers," remarked Red XIII.  "What does this mean?"

            "I don't know that he was ever dead," said Cloud.  

            "What?  But…" started Red XIII, but was cut off by Aeris.

            "Look!  Out there!" she exclaimed, pointing out the window into the night sky.  Cloud looked to see a helicopter slowly, ominously approaching, spotlight shining in on them.  No doubt coming to take care of Sephiroth and any other intruders.  Which they were.

            "Red XIII, get Aeris out of here," said Cloud.  "Find Barret and Tifa and take them too."  The beast nodded its assent.

            "Cloud?" Aeris said anxiously.

            "I'm gonna deal with whoever this is and buy you enough time to get out of here," said Cloud grimly.

            "No!  Cloud, don't!" Aeris protested fervently, grabbing onto his uniform.

            "I have to, Aeris," he said, looking down at her sadly.

            "It is the only way we shall have time to get away," agreed Red XIII.  "Time which we are currently squandering."

            But Aeris didn't let go.  "I don't want to escape, only to have you die!" she said, staring into his eyes.

            "Aeris, please," said Cloud.  "Don't make this harder than it already is."

            They gazed into each other's eyes a moment more, then she grasped his hand.  "Please come back," she pleaded.

            "I will," he promised.  With that she released him, teary-eyed, then allowed herself to be led away by Red XIII, staring back at him all the while.  Cloud stared after them, bemused.  His promise was essentially empty.  If he survived he would return, if he perished, he would not.  Promising something wouldn't affect his fate in the least.  Yet his simple words had enough power to reassure Aeris that he would be all right, and that he would indeed return to her, no matter what obstacles arose.  Cloud forced himself to wrench his eyes away from her to watch the incoming threat.  Satisfied that the oddly wise creature would take her to safety, Cloud solemnly marched to meet his fate out on the balcony, determined to fulfill his promise.

            He opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony.  The spotlight traced his every movement as the helicopter came ever closer, but he didn't move, staring up at the vehicle unflinchingly.  The drone of the rotors deafened him, the glare of the spotlight blinded him, but Cloud showed no weakness, just waiting for whatever challenge was to come.  As he stood stock still, Cloud took notice out of the corner of his eye of the pink trail leading to and apparently off the edge of the balcony.  Finally the helicopter came to hover over the balcony, and a lone figure leapt out.  He was an attractive young man of about Cloud's size and build, with a long white trenchcoat and longish red hair flapping wildly in the breeze created by the helicopter.  The chopper started to pull back, and the man approached Cloud.  

            "And who might you be?" asked the man with a cultured poise.

            "Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER First Class," responded the mercenary with an unfazable poise of his own.

            "Ah, the SOLDIER biting the hand that once fed him," replied the man coolly.  "Or one of the SOLDIERs, I suppose, since Sephiroth has apparently come back from the grave.  I guess he's rather stealing your spotlight, isn't he?  Everyone's heard of the Great Sephiroth, after all.  Oh, and did you know that he is an Ancient?"

            Cloud clenched his fist.  "And who are you?"

            "I," started the man, running a hand through his red hair, "am the President of ShinRa Incorporated."

            Cloud was confused for a moment, having just seen the President slain in his own office, but then it came to him.  "The President's son, Vice-President Rufus," he said.

            "Ah ah ah," said Rufus, wagging a finger.  "_Former_ Vice-President, now President due to my old man's tragic demise."

            "You don't sound too broken up about it," remarked Cloud.

            "Oh, but I am," replied Rufus with a grin.  "Crushed, devastated, depressed, all-around emotionally distraught.  But we must get on with our lives the best we can, right?" he said with a shrug.  "And so here I am, to resume my father's duties.  Quite a mess the old SOB left me with, having to clean up after all of you AVALANCHE criminals, not to mention Sephiroth.

            "Remind me to cry for you after I escape," said Cloud.

            "Oh, I don't need your sympathy," Rufus assured him.  "Not yours or anyone else's.  After all, I'm the president of the most powerful corporation in the world!  Entire nations bow down to the might of ShinRa!  I think I'll live regardless of what you think of me."

            "Good," said Cloud.  "Because I think you're a heartless bastard."

            "Ooh, that hurts!" said Rufus, clutching his heart in mock agony.  "And we were getting to be such good friends!"

            "Let me go, and I'll be however friendly you want," said Cloud.

            Rufus laughed heartily.  "No, no, I'm afraid I can't do that," he said.  "I said I had to clean up this mess, did I not?  I have a lot of intruders in here to take care of.  And that would start with you."

            Cloud drew his Buster Sword and held it before him, bending his legs into a battle stance.

            "Oh, very impressive!" said Rufus, clapping.  "You even use an unnecessarily large sword, just like your idol.

            "Sephiroth is not my idol," said Cloud between grit teeth.  "He's a twisted freak, even more than you."

            "Oh my, was that a backhanded compliment?" asked Rufus.  "My, maybe I'll have to reconsider killing you."  He suddenly produced a double-barreled shotgun from the interior of his trenchcoat.  "Or not."

            Cloud leapt into the windows to his right, slashing out with his sword as he flew.  The sword shattered the window and he flew into the office, narrowly avoiding the pellets of Rufus' shotgun.  He rolled and ended up in a crouch, but far from being a pudgy bureaucrat like his father, Rufus was more dexterous than he had imagined, and was already standing in his makeshift door, shotgun pointed straight at him.  Cloud had no time to dodge, and in desperation whipped his sword in front of him to serve as a makeshift shield.  The inevitable blast soon came, and Cloud yelled with pain as the pellets raked through his skin.  But his unbreakable Buster Sword had covered his face, chest, and other vital areas, and despite the furiously stinging pain, his prowess remained relatively unimpaired.  Rufus pumped his shotgun, discharging the spent shell to the floor and loading a fresh one into the chamber.  But Cloud didn't intend to give him a chance to use it.  Whipping his sword behind him in an offensive tail guard, he sprinted forwards and swept it up in a diagonal slash.  Rufus stepped back in surprise at the sudden attack, saving him from being sliced in half, but still caught the sword in the chest.  He grunted as his blood spilled to the floor, and quickly dodged to the side as Cloud attempted a second blow.  Rufus rolled and, coming to a crouch, fired the new shell of his shotgun.  Cloud, whose offensive had carried him out onto the balcony once more, dodged once again behind the window, which this time caught a load of pellets.  Rufus reloaded his shotgun, and calmly strode up to the other side of the window behind which Cloud stood.  The two men eyed each other straight faced through the clear barrier.  Both were wounded, but both were still in full possession of their faculties, still armed, and still determined to win.  Their eyes bore into each others, daring the other to act first.  

            Rufus raised his shotgun just as Cloud raised his sword, and both attacked at once.  Cloud gasped as the pellets penetrated the window at point-blank range, continuing to bury themselves in his chest.  He staggered backwards, falling to the ground.  But his strike had hit, as well.  Just after the shotgun had fired, Cloud's swing had shattered the window altogether and sliced the shotgun cleanly in half.  Rufus stared dumbly for a moment at the now useless weapon in his hands before dropping it and walking through the remnants of the window to stare at his downed and bleeding opponent.  "Well, this is an interesting situation, isn't it?" remarked Rufus.  "I am disarmed and alive, while you are armed and, well, not so alive.  All in all, I would say that I got the better end of the deal."

            Cloud cursed weakly, but had to admit that Rufus was right.  His sword would do him little good without the strength to wield it.  He currently lacked even the mental wherewithal to cast a Cure spell from his Materia.  He had lost.

            But no.  He had promised Aeris.  Promised her that he would survive and make it back to her.  And damn it, he was going to do it.  Gathering all his strength, he rose to his feet, albeit unsteadily, and again raised his sword in front of him.  Rufus just laughed.  "A noble display, I'm sure, but you don't honestly expect me to be…"  But his words were cut short as Cloud's stroke fell, cutting deep into his torso and right arm.  Rufus collapsed to his knees, holding his injured arm as the blood leaked out through his fingers.  He looked up and seeing Cloud still standing, holding the sword with his blood spattered on it, rose to his feet.  "Well, I'm impressed," he said through grit teeth as he warily retreated from the recovered warrior.  "But alas, the time for my departure is nigh.  I'm sure our paths will cross again."

            Cloud suddenly became aware once more of the roar of the helicopter's rotors.  The vehicle rose to vision from below, and Rufus climbed on board.  Lacking the arm with which to wave, one being occupied with staunching the other's wound, Rufus merely nodded as the helicopter flew him away to safety.

            Cloud collapsed once more, energy spent from his display of bravado.  But it had worked.  He had intimidated his enemy into retreat from the field.  Now all that remained was to ensure his own survival and return to his teammates.  With trembling hand he fumbled around in his belt until he found a Potion, and quickly uncorked and drank it.  Within moments the concoction began its healing magic, sealing his wounds and stimulating blood production to replace that which he had lost.  In a few minutes he was again able to stand.  Though the Potion had not been enough to fully heal him this time, he was at least able to function.  Retrieving his sword Cloud walked to the end of the balcony to stare over the edge at the ground one hundred stories below.  To his horror, he saw a vast array of flashing lights of squad cars, accompanied by a veritable army of police and ShinRa troops barricading the front entrance.  There was no way they would be able to escape!  "No," said Cloud, refusing to give up.  He hadn't made it this far just to die trapped inside his enemy's fortress.  Sheathing his sword, he left the balcony and ran back into the ShinRa building.

            Red XIII and Aeris ran back to find Barret waiting on the floor where they had left him.  Tifa was with him, and though she still seemed a little shaky, she at least seemed to be herself again.

            "Wha' happened?" said Barret.

            "Wh…where's Cloud?" asked Tifa worriedly.

            "He is buying us the time necessary to escape," said Red XIII quickly.  "We must reach the bottom floor and leave this building."

            "But we can't just leave Cloud in here!" protested Tifa.

            "There is no time!" said Red XIII.

            "You all go ahead, then," said Tifa, setting her face with a look of grim determination.  "I'm waiting for him."

            "Dammit, Tifa, we don' need two o' us gettin' lost 'stead o' one!" said Barret in frustration.  "Spiky-ass can take care o' himself.  We gotta go!"

            "I'm staying behind.  We'll catch up," said Tifa stubbornly.

            "I want to stay too," said Aeris.

            "Hell no!" said Barret, turning to the Ancient.  "You the reason we came in here n' the first place!  You think I'm jes' gonna leave you behind after all that!"

            "Barret is correct," said Red XIII.  "You are the Cetra, it is imperative that you escape."

            "But…"

            "C'mon!  Let's get outta here!" said Barret, grabbing Aeris' hand and running towards the stairwell.  "Tifa, find that damn merc an' get the hell outta here!"  Tifa nodded and turned to make her way upstairs.

            Barret led the two downstairs back to the 90th floor.  It appeared to be deserted.  Evidently everyone had either evacuated or been killed.  "Dammit, I ain't lookin' forward to ninety flights o' stairs," said Barret, remembering their route up.

            "There is no time for stairs," said Red XIII.  "Police forces must be coming soon, and that may very well have been who was in the helicopter which Cloud chose to confront.  Our only choice is to take an elevator to the ground floor."

            "Fine by me," said Barret, and he charged towards the nearest elevator.  Punching the call button, he entered, making sure this time to check for Turks lurking in the corner, and pushed the button for the first floor.  The elevator shot downwards.  Barret tapped his foot and pumped his fist anxiously, hating to be forced to stand still at a time like this.  Finally, the elevator reached the ground floor, and he sprinted out.  The ground floor was a large, pleasantly well-lit reception area, but they were the only ones to be received.  Apparently the entire building had indeed been evacuated.  "Too bad, I was kinda hopin' for a fight," said Barret.

            "Be careful what you wish for," Red XIII advised.  Barret groaned at the cliché and made his way to the revolving doors, but suddenly halted when he saw through the windows lining nearly the entire front wall what awaited them outside.  He stared in awe for a moment, then had just a split-second to dive behind a desk for cover before gunfire from outside rang out, shattering the windows and ringing loudly inside the nearly empty room.  

            "They got us totally surrounded!" yelled Barret over the barrage of automatic gunfire, as Red XIII and Aeris ran over to join him behind his cover.

            Aeris bowed her head.  "I'm sorry, everyone," said Aeris.  "It's my fault that you got into this."

            "Not me," said Red XIII.   "I was already captive by the ShinRa.  You and your friends helped me get this far."

            "An' you saved my daughter!" said Barret.  "So don' give me none o' that shit!  We're in this together, one way or another!"

            "Thank you, Mr…" Aeris started.

            "Mr. nothin'!  It's Barret!" said Barret.

            Red XIII cleared his throat.  "If you all are finished talking, might I suggest that we formulate a plan for getting past the seemingly impassable resistance outside?"

            "You're cold, man," Barret said, eying the creature.  "Jes' like someone else I know 'round here."

            Red XIII didn't retort, only returned Barret's gaze evenly.  "Are you finished?"

            "Yep.  So what're we gonna do?"

            While they were considering how to beat the incredible odds outside, they heard another voice calling them.

            "Barret!  Over here!"  They looked up to see Tifa waving to them from a stairway on the opposite side of the lobby from the elevator they had taken down.

            "Tifa!  Where's Cloud?" Barret called across the room.

            "Just come here!  Follow me, hurry!" said Tifa, beckoning to them.  The only problem was that following her would involve crossing the wide open room, putting them into the field of view of the gunmen outside.  "Alright, let's do this," said Barret with determination.  "I'll cover you two while ya make a run for it."

            "Barret…" said Aeris with emotion.

            "Jes' go!" he ordered.  He readied himself.  "Alright, playtime's over, jackasses," he said, gripping his gun.  With a roar he leapt up on top of the desk and let loose with his gatling gun.  The near silence of the echoing chamber immediately became a cacophony of gunfire, ricochets, and breaking glass as Barret and the police force outside exchanged fire.  Red XIII tensed himself, then with one mighty spring crossed the distance to land by Tifa.  Aeris was about to follow, but she hesitated.  Barret may have been very tough, but he was no invincible cyborg.  There was no way he could take down the entire police force with just a gatling gun with them all concentrating their fire on him.  He would surely perish if he were left to fend for himself.  Making her decision, Aeris immediately summoned her staff into her hands.  She closed her eyes and released her staff, which didn't fall but levitated right where she had left it as its Materia began to glow fiercely.  With a cry she opened her eyes and let loose her Fire spell.  It struck one of the nearby squad cars, which erupted into a huge explosion.  The gunmen that weren't immediately scorched scattered in a panic, trying desperately to escape the firestorm which had just sprung up.  "Come on!" said Aeris to Barret, and he hopped down off the desk and ran with her to join Red XIII and Tifa, still waiting anxiously.  Tifa flashed them a quick smile and ran up the stairs.  They ran up several flights until Tifa led them off onto what appeared to be a display floor for ShinRa products.  She ran over to a green pickup truck, already running.  "Get in!" she urged.  Red XIII and Barret hopped into the back, and Aeris into the passenger seat.  Tifa ran over and leapt into the driver's seat.  She shifted the truck into reverse and backed up, looking to her left expectantly.

            He gunned the motorcycle out of the display case, shattering the glass wall into shards.  He should probably go slower when driving a motor vehicle inside, but caution was not foremost on the list of his concerns at the moment.  He took the motorcycle forward through the numerous ShinRa vehicles on display until he found the one he was looking for.  The green pickup truck sat in the middle of one of the isles, with the entire team loaded up and Tifa at the wheel.  She grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up.  Cloud nodded and turned his head, eying the stairs in front of him, with a window to outside at their apex.  He revved his stolen motorcycle's engine, and he was off.  The motorcycle stuttered up the steps, but the powerful engine easily carried it up.  He burst out of the window with a crash to sail through the night air, silhouetted against the full moon.  He gazed around, watching the shocked police and ShinRa troops to his right, by the front door, and then turned his gaze to the highway immediately beneath him, deserted thanks to the police's barricade.  Then gravity came into action, drawing the cycle inexorably down to the street, several stories far below.  The tires hit the pavement with a shower of sparks, but the motorcycle's shocks absorbed the impact, and he was free, flying down the empty highway.  He looked back for a moment to see the truck follow from a window a story lower than his.  He slowed his bike somewhat to allow his comrades to catch up with him, and the truck pulled up by his side.  Aeris and Tifa beamed at him from the front seat, and he even allowed himself a smile.  They had taken on ShinRa in its very own headquarters, and they had won, rescuing their comrade as well as another, and escaping intact.  But his feeling of comfort instantly vanished when he heard the sound of gunfire behind him.  He glanced back to see Barret firing at a group of shapes in the distance.  Cloud cursed as he recognized them.  ShinRa troops, atop motorcycles of their own, quickly catching up to them.  He quickly evaluated the situation.  Cloud, with his state-of-the-art prototype ShinRa motorcycle could probably outrun them, but the slower truck, loaded down with passengers, would have no chance.  Barret's firing would perhaps take a few of the troops down, but he could only shoot at one at a time.  And while he would have to take out every single attacker, the troops would only need to land a single good shot in the truck's gas tank to kill them all.  The troops needed to be taken out before they even got within range of their target.  Cloud turned back to Tifa, who had noticed the gunfire as well.  "Gun it!" he yelled over the motors.  "As fast as you can!  I'll take care of 'em!"  Tifa nodded and the truck started to pull ahead.  Cloud, however, cut his speed sharply, falling behind to near the approaching ShinRa troops.  He whipped out his Buster Sword as they drew closer.  Here he was, about to take on a legion of gun-toting ShinRa bikers with nothing but his sword.  He grinned.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

            The lead biker was caught off-guard by Cloud's rapid deceleration.  Cloud simply held out his sword, blade to the back, and the biker's momentum carried him right into the blade, slicing him cleanly in half.  The rest of the bikers were a good distance behind their leader, so Cloud quickly committed a U-turn, bringing him to face them head on.  They were in two columns along each side of the road.  Cloud gunned his engine and shot right between the two columns.  They, too, were unprepared for a rapid close range attacker, and Cloud just rode along unharassed between them, slashing and slicing at bikes and bikers as he went.  He was able to score three clean hits, and the bikes went down.  The bikers behind them desperately tried to avoid the newfound obstacles, but many were unable to, running over their comrades' motorcycles and falling themselves.  When Cloud got to the end of the columns, he again made a U-turn to catch back up.  Only five troops remained alive and atop their motorcycles.  He deftly swerved left and right to avoid all the wrecked bikes, and soon was through the makeshift obstacle course.  He sheathed his sword and pushed his motorcycle to full speed to try and catch the remaining enemies before they came within range of the truck.  He found, to his relief, that his bike was indeed faster, and he was starting to catch up.  This time, however, the bikers were aware of his presence.  The rear biker pulled out a small handgun and started firing.  Cloud swerved sharply to miss the bullets, nearly losing his balance and toppling over.  But he had considerable experience with motorcycles through his SOLDIER training, and he managed to keep upright.  He maneuvered to right behind the biker, a plan starting to form in his mind.  The biker had to crane his head all the way back to see his enemy, but the mercenary was still within vision, and he resumed fire.  However, with his head turned back, he was unable to see that he was slowly swerving to the left.  He soon hit the barrier on the side of the road and was catapulted off his bike.  Cloud couldn't help but grin as he resumed full acceleration towards the remaining four enemies.  Two noticed him at once this time, and with a glance at each other, devised a plan.  The two bikes pulled up side by side directly in front of Cloud.  Then, without warning, the leftmost biker leapt from his bike to land on the back of his partner's ride.  His now empty bike fell to the street, right in Cloud's path with no time for him to avoid it.  Cursing, he pulled his front wheel up and rode awkwardly over the obstacle.  He landed extremely unsteadily, but after some see-sawing back and forth was able to keep on his bike.  He turned to the two troops with a confident grin, only to see the back rider pull out his gun.  Not even wasting the time to draw his sword, Cloud immediately swerved towards them.  He rammed them in their left side full speed, and though everyone was able to stay on their bikes, the gunner, unprepared for the jolt, lost grip on his weapon, and the gun went flying from his hand.  Lacking the room to wield his sword, Cloud simply punched the rider in the face with his right hand.  The troop recoiled, and tried for a counterattack, but Cloud pulled his bike to the side and drew his sword.  Unarmed and out of range with a punch, the back troop could do nothing but watch in horror as Cloud slashed at their motorcycle's back tire.  The sword sliced cleanly through the tire and the bike flew backwards, its two riders flying through the air, screaming.  Three down, two to go.  He observed nervously that the truck was growing very close, which meant that it would of course be even closer to the bikers in front of him.  He mentally urged his bike to go faster, though it was already at full speed.  And indeed, as he approached the two remaining troops he saw them pull out their pistols and open fire on the truck.  Tifa started to turn side to side in order to try and create a more difficult target, and Barret and Red XIII lay low in the bed of the truck.  "Barret can't even return fire in fear of hitting me," said Cloud to himself.  "Up to me, now."  He pulled up behind the biker on the right and readied his sword, but this biker was more observant than his recently slain companion.  He swerved to the right, nearly hitting the barrier, but managing to avoid both it and Cloud's blade.  He then turned his gun to Cloud and fired.  Cloud had no time to dodge, only to whip his sword up to cover himself as he had in the fight with Rufus.  It worked here, too.  "Good thing he aimed at me and not my bike," Cloud thought, but knew such luck wouldn't hold out.  He wrenched his bike to the right, slamming his enemy into the barrier.  Sparks flew from his opponent's motorcycle as it scraped along the barrier, but they both stayed upright.  However, Cloud now was unable to use his weapon effectively in such close quarters, while the ShinRa troop was quite able to use his small gun.  But just before he fired, Cloud batted him with his sword.  Though he didn't have enough room to wind up enough for a real slash, the quick strike was enough to make the troop recoil in pain, and his shot miss.  Cloud promptly broke off to the left and brought his sword up once more, this time for a deathblow.  But the enemy was too quick.  Before Cloud's strike could land, he fired the final bullet in the pistol's chamber.  This one finally hit home, and Cloud grimaced as the projectile passed through his right shoulder.  His sword arm faltered, and the slash fell short of his target.  Cloud eyed his opponent with hatred, but lacked the strength to raise his sword arm for another blow.  Then, however, he realized that he didn't have to slash with the sword to use it.  Using his uninjured forearm and wrist, he lifted his sword just enough to insert it into the spokes of his enemy's wheels.  The biker screamed as his bike leapt into the air, throwing him off, and Cloud broke to the left to avoid the soon-to-be corpse falling to the street.  That left just one more.  Cloud looked ahead and saw that he was far ahead, firing straight into the truck.  It was only a matter of time before he hit one of Cloud's comrades or worse, the gas tank.  Cloud knew that he couldn't catch up quickly enough and even if he did, he couldn't effectively wield his sword.  Transferring his weapon from his right to left hand, Cloud prepared to do something he had never allowed himself to do.  With all his strength, Cloud hurled his sword through the air, even as he calculated the odds to be against him, since he was attempting to throw a massive weapon not ever intended to be thrown, and with his non-dominant hand.  And indeed, Cloud observed in despair his blade clattering to the street, falling just short of his target.  But the enemy's bike started swerving crazily, and soon he fell to the street with a scream.  Cloud bent down to retrieve his sword and turned just in time to avoid the final soldier.  The sword had just barely hit, enough to puncture the bike's back tire.  He heard joyful cheers from the truck, and he swirled his sword through the air in a celebration of his own.  They had finally and completely escaped ShinRa.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yaay, someone got my obscure early-mid 90's Nickelodeon TV show reference!!!  This time, we have a slightly less obscure, if more contrived pop culture reference.  It's rather forced, but it just worked so well that once I thought of it, I just had to include it.  Anyone spot it?  Anyway, so I skipped another boss fight (the Motor Ball or whatever it was) along with Hojo's whatever the crap that poison thing was.  Figured that they weren't at all essential to the plot, and there was enough action in this section anyway without it.  Honestly, after Crazy Motorcycle, a mere boss fight would be an anticlimax.  Expect this trend to continue.  But you should be thankful anyway, because you got a quick and super-deluxe sized update!  I just got on a roll, what can I say?  This section was fun to write at moments, and I just kept on truckin'.  So one of my loyal reviewers has given me the idea of branching off into a new volume soon.  If I do, I'll at least write another chapter here for the team escaping Midgar.  But opinions, anyone?  Is there a maximum word limit on individual stories that would force me to do so eventually anyway?  Anyone, anyone?  Bueller?

Oh, and before anyone yells at me for calling Red XIII 'it', that's just to reflect the character's mindset of him as a beast.  It won't last long.

Arriana:  Sweet, I'm not the only one!  Don't ask why I included that reference, but it just came to me, so why not?  Anyway, thanks for returning to the ranks of active reviewers, an' for the support and praise an' all that jazz.  But personally, I'm not as big on FFVIII.  Squall did kinda grow on me, as did his gunblade, but I thought the rest of the characters were horrendously underdeveloped, especially for only having six.  Also, the main plot struck me as uninspiring and too 'out there' for me, though the emotional plot (Squall and Rinoa) was much more well done.  However, the game was still fun, and I too have played it more than once, though since I beat it the first time, my Disc 4 was scratched, so I can't advance past Adel!  ARRRGH!  Know where I can find a PC copy of the game?

Stratadrake:  Emergency door:  I didn't explain this quite well enough, so here we go now.  The door opens into the hallway, and the chamber in which Cloud & Friends hid was wider than the door, therefore allowing them to crowd into the space beside the door and not be seen when the woman closed it.

Muzzle-  Tseng wouldn't have known Red XIII had escaped, and I just can't see him carrying around a muzzle for the fun of it.  Unless he's really kinky.

Lack of keycards-  They could have gone straight to the 100th floor, but A. Their goal was rescuing Aeris, not nabbing the President, and B. in order to reach an elevator, they'd have to walk in the front door, right past a bunch of people who would recognize them as terrorists, which is what I was trying to avoid anyway.

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  I just figured 60 was a little short for the biggest company in the world, so I beefed it up a little.  No real plot-related reason.


	18. Ahead, On Our Way

Ahead, On Our Way

            The highway soon came to a premature end.  It was evidently under construction, although as it was just before dawn, there were no workers out at this time.  They halted their vehicles and disembarked, walking over to stand at the end of the highway.  Aeris took a deep breath, now feeling let down from the near-constant adrenaline rush of the past hours.  They had escaped the skyscrapers and nearly all other structures, and now stood alone on the unfinished overpass above the outskirts of the city.  

            "Well, what now?" she said.  

            "There's no way we can stay in Midgar now," said Tifa quietly.  "Every policeman in the city will be on the lookout for us."

            "We hafta leave," agreed Barret.

            There was silence for a moment.  Aeris was torn by indecision.  She could scarcely even remember anything before Elmyra Gainsborough had adopted her from her real mother.  To her knowledge, she had been in Midgar her entire life.  And yet.  

            She looked out away from the overpass, away towards the expanse of fields to the East.  The night of their escape was just ending, and just as she was gazing out at the horizon, the Sun emerged from behind the distant rolling hills, bathing the landscape in the first brilliant light of dawn.  Aeris gasped as the grass was suddenly illuminated, a green as bright and striking as that of her eyes.  In the distance she could catch glimpses of sparkling streams untouched by ShinRa's pollution.  And at the very edge of her vision, to the East of the continent was a deeper navy blue, the ever-moving, ever-changing, and yet timeless waves of the ocean.  She turned her eyes upwards, to the dazzling infant Sun slowly making its way into its perfect, cloudless domain.  The beauty of the Planet was suddenly laid out before her all in one glorious instant, and her hesitation vanished like a cloud of smoke in the wind.  She turned for an instant back to Midgar, with its ever-present smog and Mako haze obscuring the pure sunlight.  Midgar, with its lifeless concrete jungles, where nary a flower or other living thing could ever flourish.  Midgar, ShinRa's crowning achievement of its subjugation of all that was natural and pure.  She scowled, and turned back to the Sun shedding its first light over the beautiful landscape before her.  She closed her eyes and extended her arms, letting the sunlight wash over her, cleansing her of all the grime of this abominable city.  She may have been born in Midgar, may have lived here all her life, but it was not her home.  This beauty, this grandeur, this life…this Planet was her home.

            Tifa looked over at Cloud.  He was standing alone with his back to the group, looking silently out to the horizon.  "Cloud?" she said, walking up to him.  "What is it?"

            He was silent for several moments, so much that Tifa wondered fearfully if he had had another one of his inexplicable blackouts.  "Sephiroth is alive," he said at last.  "I have to settle the score."

            "Score?  Whaddaya talkin' about?" asked Barret.

            Cloud shook his head.  "Too much…too long a story to tell now.  Not now, when we're still in Midgar."

            "But how will we escape this city, from our current lofty location?" asked Red XIII.

            "We took care of that," Tifa said with a smile, and walking back to the truck parked nearby, retrieved a coil of rope from the cab.  She tied one end of it to the front hitch of the truck, and threw the other over the end of the highway.  "We can climb down and out of the city."

            They climbed down the huge length of rope one by one, landing on the ground immediately outside the gate to the Sector 6 slums.  They were officially out of Midgar.

            "Well, this is it," said Aeris, as she dropped down to the ground.  "This is the first time I've touched the soil outside of Midgar."

            "How is it?" asked Cloud, somewhat recovered from his solemn mood of a few minutes earlier.

            "Kind of scary," she said, but then turned her face up to him, smiling brightly and reminding him of the first time they had met, on the streets of Upper Midgar.  "But it feels…right.  I have hope, more so than for a long time.  Great things will come of it.  Besides, I still have my bodyguard, right?"

            "Right…" Cloud said, trying to ignore the odd feelings of his own heart.  He turned to Tifa.  "How about you?" he said.  "Been a while since you've traveled, hasn't it?"

            "I guess so," she said.  "A little scary.  But I should be fine if you keep your promise," she said, looking into his eyes.  Cloud shivered slightly.  So he was officially obligated to two girls in his party.  Just what he needed.  He never thought that Barret would be the easiest of his party to deal with, but now he found himself turning to the AVALANCHE leader as a relief from interacting with the women.  "So you're alright with abandoning the fight on ShinRa?" asked Cloud.

            "Abandonin'?  Hell no!" exclaimed Barret, fire in his eyes.  "I gotta leave for now, but I'll be back.  I ain't never givin' up on ShinRa"

            "I don't think that ShinRa will be our real enemy anymore.  Not mine, anyway," said Cloud.

            "Wha's that supposed to mean?" asked Barret, but Cloud remained silent.  Such an explanation would take hours.

            "Well, whatever the hell you wanna do, I'm always gonna be fightin' ShinRa," said Barret dismissively.  "I ain't never forgivin' them for what they did ta me."

            "What did they do?" asked Cloud, but now it was Barret's turn to be silent.  "And how about you?" he said finally to Red XIII, as he finished sliding down the rope using his teeth.  "Are you staying with us?"

            The creature considered.  "Where are you going?"

            That was a good question, Cloud realized.  While they certainly had to leave Midgar to avoid being caught be ShinRa, they didn't really have any set destination.  "Kalm," he decided firmly.  "The small village to the northeast.  It's a pretty quick hike over there, but still far enough that the ShinRa shouldn't have much of a presence.  We can stay at the inn there and regroup, then we can all decide where we're going from there."  The rest of the group nodded their assent to this plan.

            "I jes hate leavin' Marlene," said Barret, looking down.  "Never even got a chance to say goodbye to her…"

            Tifa walked over and put an arm around him the best she could with his massive shoulders.  "She'll understand, Barret," Tifa said.  "She's used to her father being a warrior."

            The fire immediately returned to Barret's eyes.  "Tha's right!  I am a warrior!" he exclaimed.  "We're all warriors!  Warriors for the Planet!"

            "Hear, hear!" cheered Tifa and Aeris, but Cloud and Red XIII stayed silent.

            "You two're like fuckin' peas in a pod," remarked Barret.  "Both o' you just sittin' there, all cold an' silent."

            "Hear, hear," said Red XIII in an emotionless voice.

            "Woohoo," said Cloud in an equal tone.

            "Damn, forget you," said Barret to the two of them.  "A'ight, so we need a leader for our journey, right?  Nat'rally that can't be no one but me."

            "I think it should be Cloud," said Aeris.

            "What???  You wanna let cold-ass mercenary over there lead us?!?" exclaimed Barret.  

            "We should travel in two groups, anyway" said Cloud.  "ShinRa will be on the lookout for us, especially with the nice little clues we left behind," he said, gesturing up to the rope and abandoned vehicles.  "If we move in smaller groups, we should be harder to catch."

            "He has a valid point," said Red XIII.

            "A'ight then, what're the groups gonna be, smartass?" said Barret.

            Cloud considered.  "Red XIII and I will head out first, and then Barret, you can take Aeris and Tifa."

            "Heh, shoulda known you two badasses would travel together," remarked Barret.  Aeris looked ready to protest, but her eyes met Cloud's and she nodded.  Tifa, also, was silent as to her fate, though she too looked slightly surprised.  

            "A'ight, we'll meet you two at the inn at Kalm," said Barret.  Cloud nodded, and farewells were exchanged as the group parted for their journey.

            The ground started out as bare dirt, without a sign of life.  However, as Cloud and Red XIII continued eastward, they noticed the ground becoming less desolate.  Plants started to appear, at first strangled weeds, then small patches of moss and grass.  The further they got from Midgar, the more lively the terrain appeared.  After about twenty minutes of hiking, they were in a lush green field, with the Sun shining bright in a cloudless sky.

            "That was an admirable action," said Red XIII to Cloud, breaking the silence.

            "What?" asked Cloud, not in a particularly talkative mood.

            "Volunteering to travel alone with me to minimize the danger on your comrades, since you still do not know if I can be trusted."

            Cloud's heart skipped a beat.  The creature had just read his mind perfectly.  "So what, are you psychic?" he asked, using sarcasm to mask his surprise.

            Red XIII laughed softly.  "Not at all.  But I have been around humans all my life, and have a relatively good idea of how they think."

            "We don't all think the same!" exclaimed Cloud indignantly.

            "Not exactly the same, certainly," replied Red XIII calmly.  "But there are many patterns common to your species."

            Cloud already felt uncomfortable about traveling with a giant cat-creature, and it didn't help that he had now discovered that it had a near supernatural ability to sense human thought.  But it certainly didn't seem hostile, and even seemed cordial.  It…he simply walked alongside him, not gloating about his powers of perception, not speaking condescendingly about humans, but just speaking matter-of-factly, as if it were nothing unusual.  Cloud laughed to himself.  He had certainly never foreseen himself being in this situation: leaving Midgar with the full might of ShinRa on his tail, a terrorist, a barmaid, and an Ancient behind him, a super-intelligent feline creature at his side, and nothing but uncertainty and danger ahead.  Danger multiplied since the reappearance of Sephiroth.  Sephiroth…Cloud clenched his fist.  What did his return signify?  Whatever had caused it, it was sure to signify a new era of danger for the Planet, a peril that not even ShinRa could equal…

            But there was plenty of time to deal with that once they got to Kalm.  For now, the immediate danger was past.  Cloud concentrated on the springy feel of cool grass under his boots and the clean air in his lungs for the first time in months.  The desolation of Midgar lay behind them, the entirety of the Planet before them.  Despite the perils he had yet to face, and despite himself, he felt his mood brightening for the first time in a long while.

            Neither Cloud nor Red XIII were the most talkative of individuals, so it was a silent and thankfully uneventful journey to the village of Kalm.  It was a reasonably long hike, but the two of them, Cloud having extraordinary stamina and Red XIII being a strong beast, made very good time, and before sundown they were able to see roofs emerging from beyond the next hill.  A few minutes later and they were there.  

            Kalm was a tiny village near the northern edge of the Midgar continent.  They were originally a remote hamlet, enjoying their quiet, simple lifestyle, until Midgar had been built nearby due to the area's high Mako energy content.  They had tried to keep their lifestyle as best they could, but ShinRa's construction of a Mako reactor for the town and a huge amount of tourism from the big city had defiled their town.  Even so, Kalm remained a fairly pleasant, uneventful location: the perfect place to hide from ShinRa until they could get further away from Midgar.  "But now there's more than ShinRa to worry about," Cloud reminded himself.  "Much more."  He and Red XIII entered the town square.  The streets were stone-paved still, and houses were relatively small and old fashioned, made primarily of wood with thatch roofs.  The streets were more or less empty, except for a few villagers milling around, shopping or visiting with each other, with nothing in particular to do and no hurry to do it in.  The center of the town was a large fountain, water shooting up from and back into a circular stone basin with intricate carvings.  It was charming really.  It even reminded Cloud of…home.  He clenched his fist.  The past just kept coming back to haunt him.  He shook the thought out of his head and looked around.  Immediately to his left he saw a large building with a sign in front simply stating "Inn".  "Easy enough," thought Cloud as he walked in, Red XIII at his tail.  

            The room was warm and dimly, but pleasantly lit by several lamps scattered around.  The innkeeper sat behind a desk near the back, with a staircase behind him leading up to the rooms.  He smiled as when the door opened in preparation for customers or friends dropping by, but his smile quickly vanished as he saw his visitors: a bloodied warrior with a huge sword at his back and clothes in shreds, with a huge, dangerous looking beast in tow.

            "I…I'm sorry, sir…" said the innkeeper fearfully.  "We don't allow…pets."

            "Pets?!" Red XIII said incredulously.  "I beg your pardon, sir, but I am no pet!"  The innkeeper blanched and nearly fainted.

            "Look, pal, we aren't gonna cause any trouble," said Cloud tiredly.  "Just give us two rooms, and we'll be out of your way."  

            He nodded dumbly.  "One hundred Gil."  Cloud fished his wallet out of his pocket and paid the man, and received the keys given to him.  "Have a pleasant…and quiet stay," the man said, more of a prayer than a blessing.  Cloud smirked and made his way up the stairs.  He opened the door to the first of the rooms to see a small, cozy bedchamber, with two simple, but comfortable-looking beds.  "I do not require a bed," said Red XIII.

            "Good, because you ain't getting one," Cloud said with a grin.  "There are only four beds for the five of us, and I figured that you'd be the one to go without."  Red XIII growled, but did not retort.  Cloud threw down his sword on the floor and plopped down on the bed exhaustedly.  He had slept a little the night before, but only fitfully.  How well could one sleep in a crappy bed in a jail cell, held by his arch-enemies?  

            "When do you suppose the remaining members of our party will arrive?" asked Red XIII.

            Cloud shrugged.  "They'll be awhile.  We're probably the fastest two of all of us.  Tifa will do alright, but Aeris isn't used to too much physical exertion, and Barret ain't exactly built for long-distance travel either."  Red XIII laughed softly and curled up on the floor.  Soon he was silently asleep.  Cloud just stared up at the ceiling.  They would be quite a while yet.  He might as well get some rest in the meanwhile as well.  He closed his eyes and was quickly asleep.

            "Yo, spiky-ass!"

            Cloud's eyes snapped open to one of the more unpleasant sights to wake up to – a large, angry man with an automatic weapon leaning over him.  Thankfully, this angry man was no angrier than usual, and he, Tifa, and Aeris were all now in the room, looking tired, but still very much alive.  He sat up, stretching slowly.

            "How long have you been waiting for us?" asked Tifa.

            Cloud shrugged.  "I dunno.  We've been asleep for a while."

            "Sorry we were so slow," said Aeris.  "I held us behind.  I'm just not…"  
            "It's alright," Cloud quickly assured her.  "We're all here now, and ShinRa isn't.  That's what matters, right?"  Aeris smiled prettily and nodded.

            "A'ight, if you're finished with all that shit, how 'bout we get down to business?" said Barret.  "What were you sayin' back there in Midgar 'bout Sephiroth?"

            "Yes, you said that he might never have been killed after all," seconded Red XIII.  "What do you know about Sephiroth?"

            Cloud sighed as he looked at Tifa, who wore a grim look.  But she met his gaze and nodded, and he turned back to the rest of the group, watching him expectantly.  "I grew up always admiring Sephiroth.  The greatest warrior the world had ever known.  He had never been defeated, had never backed down from a battle.  He was my hero as a child, and so when I got old enough I left Nibelheim to become a SOLDIER like him.  When I joined, as it turns out, I was good enough to be assigned to be none other than Sephiroth's partner, and so that was that.  We became friends."

            "You call that a friend?" Tifa muttered.

            "Well," said Cloud.  "It is true that we didn't talk much.  Sephiroth wasn't the most talkative guy, and he almost never talked about himself, even to brag.  I guess you could say we were war buddies.  You know, we fought alongside each other.  We trusted each other.  Until one day…" he trailed off.

            "One day?" asked Aeris.

            Cloud took a deep breath.  "One day, five years ago…"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The aforementioned pop culture reference in the last chapter was Terminator 2.  When writing the scene of Barret holding off the entire police barricade through the window of an office building with just his gatling gun, I realized that Schwarzenegger did _precisely_ the same thing in the Cyberdyne building in the movie, so I just had to mention it.   Hence the remark that Barret was no invincible cyborg.  Yeah, so I'm a dork.  I can live with that.  Anyway, I'm thinking about how I'm going to work the party structure.  How could I naturally limit the party's size to three or so?  Cause I don't wanna write for nine characters during every scene.  Well, I'll consider.  Thanks for the reviews and praise an' all, and keep it up.


	19. The Hero

The Hero

            The ShinRa soldier knelt down on the floor, clutching his stomach.  He always got motion sickness when traveling in an automobile.  And it didn't help that he was in the small covered back of a truck, with no way to see where they were going.

            "Hey, how're ya doing?" asked Cloud, standing restlessly in the middle of the back area of the truck.

            "I'm all right," the soldier murmured through his blue helmet, though he clearly didn't sound it.  Cloud shrugged.  "Afraid I can't sympathize.  I never get motion sickness."  He turned from the two troopers to his true comrade sitting beside him.  Sephiroth always refused to wear the standard blue SOLDIER uniform.  Instead he was clad entirely in black.  He wore black pants, knee-high black leather boots, leather gloves, dual metal shoulder-guards, and a long black leather coat fastened together at his waist, with no shirt or other garment visible under it.  No one, not even the head ShinRa managers weren't eager to argue with him for wanting to distinguish himself from his comrades.  Not that there was much danger of him passing unnoticed, even if he did wear a uniform.  Sephiroth stood at about 6'2, with long flowing white hair and bright emerald eyes which possessed a glowing intensity even above that of a normal SOLDIER.  As if he himself weren't distinctive enough, he had the Masamune.  His incredible sword of unknown origin, the Masamune was an unbelievably sharp and strong katana that was longer than almost any man was tall, even Sephiroth, at about seven feet.  No sword like it was known to have existed throughout history, and Sephiroth was the only person who could wield it.  Not that anyone would dare try to take it from him.  Some people adored him, some loathed him, some feared him.  But no matter what their opinion of his personality, it was unanimous that he was the most powerful warrior the world had ever known.

            "Sure is raining hard outside," said Cloud, drawing on the first subject that popped into his head.  But his plan to draw Sephiroth into conversation failed, and the hero just nodded silently.

            Cloud stood there, at a loss for a moment.  "They gave me some new Materia.  I can't wait to use it!" he said at length, drawing his Buster Sword and showing Sephiroth the two Lightning and Ice gems in the blade.

            Sephiroth laughed quietly.  "Just like a kid."  The words were soft, but his voice nevertheless conveyed force and confidence.  It was no wonder; Cloud had never seen Sephiroth fazed by anything.  Indeed, he was nearly always calm and confident to the point of being accused of totally lacking any human emotions.  But those who accused him of that were the ones that didn't know him as well as Cloud did.  While Sephiroth was always calm in the face of opposition and was frequently quiet, he was still human.  He cared about the fate of others, especially his comrades, and had saved Cloud's life on multiple occasions on prior missions.  But one certainly wouldn't know it to look at him.  He just sat in the corner of the truck, his huge weapon at his side, face grim and emotionless as nearly always.

            Cloud deflated somewhat at Sephiroth's mild rebuff, and decided to act more professional.  "So, what's our objective?" he asked in his most serious voice.

            Sephiroth smirked, easily seeing through the fifteen year-old's façade, but he responded.  "We've been receiving reports of brutal creatures around the Nibelheim area, with one big one in particular.  A 'monster', they call it.  Around the same time as the creatures' appearance, we heard that the Mako reactor in the area malfunctioning.  The big guys upstairs think they may be connected.  So our job is to first eliminate the head creature, and then to investigate the Mt. Nibel reactor."

            "Nibelheim…" said Cloud.

            "Hmm?" said Sephiroth.

            "That's where I'm from," said Cloud.  "I haven't been back since I left, years ago."

            "Why is that?" asked Sephiroth, turning to face Cloud for the first time since the ride began.

            "Well, I wanted to join SOLDIER," replied Cloud.  "Ever since I was a kid, it's always been my dream to join SOLDIER…to be like you."  Sephiroth grinned.  "That's why I signed up for this mission.  I knew it was a big one.  I missed out on the war, so I need some chance to prove myself!"

            "Guess so," said Sephiroth.  There was silence for a moment, then suddenly the truck rocked violently from side to side, threatening to turn over on its side as if reeling from a sudden impact.  The troopers and driver cried out in fear, and Cloud cursed violently.

            "S…Sir!" called the driver fearfully to Sephiroth.  "Something just crashed into our truck!!!"

            Sephiroth stood slowly, in no apparent rush.  "That would be our 'monster,'" he said calmly.  "You two, stay here as backup," he said to the two ShinRa troopers, who nodded eagerly, thankful not to have to face the enemy.  "Strife, you come with me."  Cloud, as always amazed at how calm Sephiroth could be under the circumstances, nodded, attempting to hide his incredible fear.  Sephiroth drew the Masamune and leapt out of the back of the truck, into the pouring rain.  Cloud, heart racing wildly, shakily pulled out his Buster Sword and followed Sephiroth out of the now-halted vehicle and around to the front of it.  

            The rain was heavy and stinging, falling down in almost solid sheets.  Cloud could at first not see their enemy through the precipitation.  But as he squinted through the rain, a shape began visible, then solidified into a solid form as Cloud gaped upwards.  It was humanoid in basic shape, but that was about where the resemblance ended.  For one, this creature was about ten times as tall as any human, and with width and more than enough muscle mass to match.  Veins and arteries protruded from all over its body, but while some had a normal red color, some were of an almost glowing green.  Aside from these colors, it was a dull forest green.  It had huge claws protruding from each finger, stained dark with long-since spilled blood.  Its alien face screamed a shrill battle-cry as it lunged towards the young SOLDIER.  Cloud, unprepared for a sudden assault by this monstrous adversary, completely froze in his spot, dumbly standing with his sword by his side as the creature moved to start and finish the fight with one quick slash of its deadly claws.

            But it had failed to notice its second enemy, the one who had had the wisdom not to blindly walk right out into view.  As Cloud helplessly watched the creature raise its right arm for a quick swipe to cut him in two, Sephiroth leapt out from the other side of the nearby truck.  He drew his katana as he sailed through the air, and just as the creature's arm was falling towards Cloud, Sephiroth struck.  A single slice, so quick as to be nearly imperceptible, and the enemy's right arm fell harmlessly to land with a splash of bloody water on the rain-soaked ground right next to Cloud.  The creature screamed with pain, and blindly struck out at its new, far more formidable enemy.  Its left arm came flying right for Sephiroth, all five claws set to impale him.  But just as he was about to be pierced by the claws, Sephiroth swiftly dove forward, straight under the claws to land below the creature's extended arm.  Another lightning-fast cut and the creature had lost a second limb.  It screamed with agony once more as it backed off from this amazingly fierce opponent, and Cloud couldn't help but think that it looked comical, dumbly standing there with both its arms having been removed in less than five seconds.  Heartened by seeing his once-fearsome enemy reduced to apparent helplessness, Cloud recovered his senses and decided to go on the offensive.  Raising his sword above his head, he rushed towards the creature with a battle cry of his own.  The creature turned to face him, its attention drawn by the sound emitting from one of its henceforth silent enemies.  But before Cloud could come within distance for attack, the beast opened its huge mouth, and to Cloud's horror, flames emitted from it, shooting down at Cloud like a flamethrower.  Crying out in fear, Cloud lowered his sword in what he knew would be a futile attempt to shield himself and waited for the burning pain, but it did not come.  He peeked out from behind his sword, and to his astonishment, saw that the rain falling before the flames had been frozen into a solid sheet of ice, shielding Cloud from the fire.  Furious, the monster turned to Sephiroth, whose quick Blizzaga spell had saved Cloud yet again.  It could tell that it would have to eliminate this opponent before it could get to its smaller companion.  But the smaller companion didn't intend for either of these to happen, and he raised his hands into the air.

            "Thunder!" he cried, and just as the creature opened its jaws to spout another burst of fire at Sephiroth, a streak of lightning came flying down from the grey sky to connect with the creature's skull.  The monster was barely injured by the basic attack spell, but it did shudder and hesitate as the electrical current rapidly ran its course through its body.  This was all the time that Sephiroth needed.  The SOLDIER leapt high into the air, straight up to the creatures head, and just as it prepared once more to unleash its flamethrower, Sephiroth struck his third blow.  The head went sailing off, blood flying everywhere to join the rain on its journey to the earth.  The body, now just a torso on legs, flopped down to the ground, only to have Sephiroth fall down right on top of it blade-first, sinking the Masamune down into the foul flesh right up to the hilt.  Cloud just stared in utmost admiration as Sephiroth calmly withdrew his katana from what was left of the beast's body and held it up to the rain until the water washed it clean of blood and back to its flawless shine.  He had heard the tales about The Great Sephiroth all his childhood, had seen him in action multiple times before this, and still the SOLDIER was capable of amazing him with his unreal prowess.  Sephiroth sheathed his weapon and turned to the younger warrior, still staring in awe.  "One objective down," he said casually as he hopped off the corpse and returned to the truck.

            After the two troops had finished praising Sephiroth's performance, the ride was silent.  The rainstorm lessened in intensity as they traveled, and when they reached Nibelheim all was dry.  The small ShinRa task force disembarked from the truck immediately outside the town gates, and Cloud took in the blessedly familiar sight.  A dirt path led straight into the small town square, with cottages surrounding it on all sides save for where it branched off to wind its way through the rest of the village and, at the far end, to the looming Mt. Nibel.  Immediately to the left was the small town inn and general store, and there were a line of houses to the right, Johnny's, his own, and Tifa's.  Cloud wondered if Tifa was still in town.  He remembered that night at the town well, the promise he had made…

            "So how does it feel?"

            "…huh?" asked Cloud, startled out of his reverie.  Sephiroth was looking at him, a small trace of a rare smile on his face.  "This is your first time back in your hometown in a long time, right?"

            "Yeah…" said Cloud.  "Feels alright," he said offhandedly, trying not to let his excitement show.  

            Sephiroth nodded, again reading the young man like a book, but saying nothing.  "I wouldn't know, because I don't have a hometown."  Cloud looked at him in surprise.  "Not one that I know of anyway."

            "You don't know where you were born?" Cloud said.  "Didn't your parents ever tell you?"

            "Heh," said Sephiroth, staring off into space.  "My mother, Jenova, died immediately after giving birth to me.  And my father…father…"  Suddenly Sephiroth was broke by a fit of extreme laughter.  He leaned over holding his chest, laughing almost hysterically.  Cloud was taken completely by surprise at this reaction, and, unsure how to react, stepped slowly towards Sephiroth, but the older man held up his hand, indicating for Cloud to halt.  Sephiroth's laughter ended as suddenly as it had began, and he once again stood upright, straight-faced as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  He turned to the two blue-clad ShinRa soldiers.  "You, stand guard here.  Be on the lookout for any other creatures."  The soldier saluted and shouldered his rifle.  "You, do the same at the other side of the town square."  The second troop obeyed.  "Come on, let's move," said Sephiroth to the other SOLDIER.  Cloud nodded, still somewhat off-balance by what had just transpired, but followed his comrade into the town square.  To his disappointment, it was totally empty.  He had somewhat naively expected, or at least wished for, a warm welcome for the local boy's triumphant return to save his home, but aside from Sephiroth and the second soldier rushing towards the other end of the square, there was no one in sight.  "I guess everyone's inside because of the monsters," Cloud remarked.

            "Or because of us," said Sephiroth.  Cloud again looked at his comrade in surprise.  "Not everyone is a fan of ShinRa," he continued.  "The town may think that SOLDIER is as much of a threat as the monsters, if not more."

            "But we're here to save them!" exclaimed Cloud.  "We're the good guys!"

            "Good guys, bad guys…it isn't always that simple, kid," said Sephiroth, turning to look down at Cloud.  "Take the war for instance.  Who were the good guys?"

            "ShinRa!" said Cloud without hesitation.  "I mean, you fought for them!  Of course it's ShinRa, right?"

            "The natives of Fen-Shi sure wouldn't say so," replied Sephiroth.  "They were resisting ShinRa's proposition to gain economic and, eventually, political control over them by installing Mako reactors.  Now look at the continent," he said darkly, to Cloud's surprise.  "Millions are dead, and Wutai is the only remaining city on the entire Fen-Shi continent without any ShinRa presence.  And what crime did the contintent commit?  Only wanting to keep their culture intact and their people free."  

            Cloud just stared, flabbergasted at hearing his hero mercilessly criticize the very company that he served.  "So…why do you work for ShinRa then?" asked Cloud.  "If you sympathize with the Fen-Shi so much, why didn't you join them?  You alone probably could have changed the fate of the war!"

            "Probably," agreed Sephiroth, not proudly, but just matter-of-factly.  He opened his mouth to speak, but then shook his head.  "What does it matter?" he remarked before turning for the Inn.  Cloud was about to protest, but bit his tongue.  He had hoped to visit his friends in town before turning in for the night, but he didn't dare question Sephiroth.  He followed grudgingly.  Sephiroth was about to enter the inn, but as he opened the door, he hesitated.  "Ah, of course," he said, turning back to Cloud.  "You may visit your family and friends."  Cloud flashed a wide grin and turned to leave.  "Not so fast," said Sephiroth, and Cloud immediately turned back.  "We leave for the reactor at the Sun's first light," declared Sephiroth.  "We do not know what we will encounter, so we must be prepared for anything.  So make it fast, and get back here so you can be rested and at full strength tomorrow."  Cloud nodded, and Sephiroth turned to enter the inn.  "Oh, Sephiroth!" said Cloud.  Sephiroth halted and turned back, eyebrows raised expectantly.  Cloud hesitated, finding the words hard to produce.  "Thanks…for saving me today.  It was all you out there."  Sephiroth waved his hand dismissively and disappeared inside.  Cloud grinned widely, and ran off to one of the houses immediately across the square from the inn: his own.

            He opened the door and strode boldly in.  His mother was dressed in an apron, working in a steamy kitchen, but upon hearing her door she turned around, and to her utter shock, saw her son standing before her for the first time in years…

"My how you've grown," said Cloud's mother, looking her son up and down.  "And you look so handsome in that SOLDIER uniform!  I'll bet the girls never leave you alone!"

            Cloud shrugged.  His mother smiled, but turned her back and walked a few steps away, thinking.  "I'm worried about you," she said after a few moments.  "There a lot of temptations in the city, and I just never know what you're up to.  I'd feel better if you settled down with a nice girlfriend."  Cloud snorted derisively.

            "I'm serious!" said his mother, turning back to him to stare at him anxiously.  "An older girlfriend, the type that could take care of you."

            "Mom, I think I can take care of myself," said Cloud, crossing his arms.

            "In a fight, I don't doubt it," said his mother.  "But there's more to life than fighting, honey," she said, placing her hand softly on his shoulder.  He looked up at her.  She looked so caring, but so sad…

"Now Cloud, tell me all about what you've been doing in Midgar!  You can't cook, right?"

"I'm alright," replied Cloud.  "The company takes care of me."

His mother shook her head.  "Now honey, I want you to…"

"Cloud, be careful of…"

"Cloud…"

"…I will always be your mother..."

            He ran up the small path to the Tifa's front door and knocked loudly.  The sound resounded well through the wooden door, but he heard no movement from inside.  He knocked again, once more to no response.  Biting his lip, he slowly opened the door and peered inside.  There was the all-too familiar cozy living room was dark and deserted.  Cloud warily stepped inside, leaving the door ajar.  "Hello?" he called, to still no response.  He turned around and was about to leave when his eye was drawn by a letter on a small table near the door.  He knew he shouldn't, but he almost couldn't help walking over and picking up the paper.  It was a letter addressed to none other than Tifa.  He was about to put it down, when a mention of his own name caught his eye.  

"Everyone was there, except that guy, Cloud.  But I guess that makes sense, he never was really one of us.  Even if he had heard, I doubt he would have come.  It's just as well, we didn't really miss him.  Still, I wish you had been there.  Heh, if I keep writing like this, this will turn into a love letter!..."

Cloud put the letter down with a snort.  He was certainly not an outsider like it insinuated.  This guy had it all wrong.  He was obviously just another one of those guys stricken with Tifa.  Cloud smirked; he was no outsider.  He was simply the only one who had been able to see Tifa as something other than an object of romance.  But surely Tifa would know that.  So why would this guy bother trying to deceive Tifa with lies like this?  It didn't make any sense!  Mind in a whirl, Cloud stormed out of the house.

            Trying to put the nonsensical letter out of his mind, Cloud decided to return to the inn for the night.  He walked across the deserted town square to the inn and entered.  He had never had to stay at the inn before, since his own house was right nearby, but he had still been in here often enough, as he had every other building in the small village.  The same old white-haired innkeeper, Mr. Creoste, sat snoozing behind the desk, but there was another elderly man standing in the corner.  Despite his age, this man gave off a rare air of vitality, standing tall, eyes sparkling with life.  He was clad in what appeared to be a martial artist's outfit, and smiled confidently at the newcomer.  "So ShinRa's finally come to clean up their mess, eh?" he said.

            "Our mess?" said Cloud, confused.  "Why would ShinRa create monsters to terrorize innocent people?"

            "Oh, just ignore me," said the man, smiling condescendingly.  "Just an old man's ramblings."

            "Just who are you?" asked Cloud.

            "I am Zangan," he said proudly.  "I travel around the world, teaching the long-forsaken Eastern martial arts.  I have 128 students in nations all over the world.  I even have a pupil in this town, being why I am here."

            "And who is interested in martial arts in this town?" asked Cloud.

            "A young girl, about your age, I expect, by the name of Tifa Lockheart."

            Cloud blinked, stunned for a moment.  "Did you say Tifa?"

            "I thought the old men were the ones with hearing problems," remarked Zangan, smiling broadly.  Cloud shook his head in disbelief.   The thought of sweet, innocent Tifa learning to slay someone with her bare hands was absurd.  But people changed.  He certainly had.  And it had been years since he had left, after all.  Surely Tifa wouldn't be the same girl he remembered from his childhood.  But still, he didn't even want to imagine Tifa Lockheart in a fight, or in trouble of any sort.  But she was in trouble, Cloud reminded himself.  All of Nibelheim was, with these monsters on the loose.  It was perfectly understandable for her to learn to fight to defend herself and her family.  That was a relief, Cloud thought.  Though people no doubt did change, that didn't mean that all changes were for the better.

            "Tifa will make a good fighter, I believe," said Zangan, interrupting Cloud's thoughts.  "She's agile, and rather strong for a girl of her age.  But above all, she has good sense.  That's what's most important for a warrior.  I certainly hope that you SOLDIERs have sense enough to know what you're doing,"

            Cloud was growing weary of this geezer's superior attitude.  "Just let the real fighters handle it, old man," he spat, turning away from the martial artist to the snoozing innkeeper.  "Hey!" he yelled, still fired up over the old man's continuous insults.  The innkeeper nearly leapt up, then, not quite prepared for wakefulness, nearly fell to the floor.  But Mr. Creoste managed to keep upright, and after regaining what remained of his composure, he turned a bleary eye to Cloud.  "Eh?  What's it?"

            "So you don't recognize me?" said Cloud.  Creoste peered at him confusedly for a moment.  "Cloud?"  he muttered after a moment.  "Cloud Strife?"  Cloud grinned and nodded.  "Never thought I'd see you again!" said Creoste, smiling.  "Goin' off to Midgar with all those other guys, and leaving all us old farts behind.  But you never visited like the others.  Thought you were gone for good!"

            "Nope!" said Cloud.  "But I have to admit, I am here on business.  I'm with SOLDIER now, and we're here to clear out the monsters."

            "Well, good for you!" said Creoste, patting Cloud on the shoulder with a frail, wrinkled hand.  "'Bout time someone took care of these damn nuisances!  Hardly safe to go outside anymore!"  He turned to the stairway behind him.  "I think your ShinRa buddy is upstairs.  What was his name again?"

            "Mr. Creoste, that was Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed, grinning broadly.

            "Sephiroth?" the man said in wonder.  "THE Sephiroth?"  Cloud nodded.  "Damn, and I didn't even notice…"

            "Well, you'll see him tomorrow, when we leave for the Mako reactor," said Cloud.  "That's where ShinRa thinks the monsters are coming from."  
            "The reactor?" said the old man confusedly.  Then he shook his head.  "Eh, I don't know how those things work.  Who knows what the damn things do?  Anyway, glad to have you back in town, Cloud!" he concluded with a smile.  Cloud smiled back before ascending the stairs to a wooden hallway.  Sephiroth stood in the middle of the hall, his back to the door to their room, staring out of a window at the looming Mt. Nibel and surrounding landscape.  Cloud walked over to join him.  "What are you looking at?" he asked.

            "This scenery…I feel like I know this place," said Sephiroth quietly, eyes not moving from the window.  "I've never been here before, yet it feels so familiar."  He at last wrenched his eyes from the window to turn to Cloud.  "So, are you going to be ready for tomorrow?"

            "I can't wait!" exclaimed Cloud, Mako-eyes sparkling.

            "You should never be too eager to fight," said Sephiroth, frowning down at the shorter SOLDIER.  "Killing is an unfortunate last resort, even against beasts."  But the rookie's attitude was contagious, and even the supposedly emotionless Sephiroth couldn't help cracking a smile at Cloud's wide-eyed enthusiasm.  "Get to bed, Cloud," he said.  Cloud nodded and entered the room.  He stopped and turned back for a moment to look at Sephiroth, once more gazing out the window in silence.  He was so strong, so noble…Cloud had picked a good hero.  He grinned before turning back to go rest up for tomorrow's mission.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

            Wow.  Been awhile.  Well, several reasons.  Number one, I started playing Chrono Trigger again, so I've had that on the video game part of my mind instead of FFVII (Hmm…Magus vs. Sephiroth?  Sephiroth, probably, but major props to the scythe-wielding dark mage nonetheless).  Number two, I've started working on my original writing like I should've been all along.  You see, the reason I updated this thing so much was because it was actually stealing time away from the original writing that it should be augmenting.  So I've adjusted the balance of things, and have started a dreadfully dark semi-autobiographical short story.  So you can expect less frequent updates.  But that doesn't mean you should stop reading, or start pestering.  Because, as I've just proven, I am still here, and still going.  But if I slack for too long, feel free to bother me.

            Okay, explanations outta the way, now onto…more explanations.  I changed the dragon (it was a dragon, right?) to a big humanoid thingy because I never did quite get ShinRa's twisted science turning a human into a perfect dragon.  But I kept the fire-breathing, anyway.  Oh yeah, and I'm using the FFVIII style spell names.  I really liked how they replaced the stupid 2 and 3's with cool suffixes to indicate increased power.  Mayhaps I'll go back and change my names of previous chapters.  But I'm lazy.  Maybe…And as you probably noticed, I  (SPOILER ALERT.  If you haven't played the game, skip this) portrayed Sephiroth in a much more positive light than did the game.  I wanted him to be more likeable, so his fall would be more tragic.  I don't know that he was necessarily evil at heart, but just twisted and driven mad by the horrible secrets of his past.  Besides, how could I be mean to Sephiroth?  He's The Man!  Aside from that, I think I played it pretty straight.  Oh, and yet another pop culture reference.  I wasn't planning to make this a regular thing, but they just kinda come to me.  Anyone catch it?  (Hint: think humour).  Okay, I'm done.  Comments, please?

Celtic Guardian 7:  Thanksya much!  Obviously, I agree with your attitude on changes.  On playing FFVII, I was struck by how good the story was, but also how much better it could have been with some tweakage.  My mission is to make it what it should have been all along.  As for that flashback, I'm too lazy right now, but I shall certainly consider it.  Well, I don't plan on stopping soon, so continue reading, reviewing, and all that jazz!

Stratadrake:  Good point, about the quotes.  They have been corrected.  Thanks for picking up on all these little grammar things that slip through.  I can't stand people who don't care about grammar.  For Red XIII, I thought the same thing, and I might abbreviate it in time, when the characters get to know him better.  And thanksya for the prestigious spot on your little list.  I realize that my descriptions need a lot of work, and that's something I hope to improve through this novellization.  Keep me updated on how I'm doing with those.  As for the flashback, I was obviously thinkin' the same thing.  I considered breaking out periodically for the team member's comments, but decided against it, partly because of your input.  Don't you feel ever so special now?  I shall have to check out your story sometime, when I sufficiently un-lazy myself.

Dark ki a.k.a. Lee:  Thanksya, thanksya.  My novel….um…yeah, about that…you see, I've got this horrible disease.  I think of a great idea for a novel, I start working on it…and I think of problems with my idea and/or lose interest.  I've lost several novels that way.  I was afraid I'd lose interest in this similarly, but I'm still going, thankfully.  But at least I'm working on some original writing now.  Like I said, it's a semi-autobiographical short story, which should be a lot easier to work with than an entire novel.  Good starting point to re-enter my real writing an' all, ya dig?


	20. The Hero's Fall

The Hero's Fall

            Cloud opened his eyes regretfully, idly gazing around for the cause of his wakefulness.  One of their blue-clad soldiers stood above him.  "Sir, Captain Sephiroth has ordered us to prepare ourselves and gather outside the ShinRa mansion on the north side of town.  Groaning, Cloud nodded and slowly rose to his feet as the soldier left.  But as his wits slowly returned to him, his excitement rose.  This was it; he was going to save his hometown!  Well, it would most likely going to be Sephiroth doing most of the saving.  That was the problem with working with such a legendary figure.  He would doubtlessly dominate the spotlight, whether he wanted to or not.  He would be the determining factor in the battles, and he would get the glory.  That was just the way things were.  But this time, Cloud had the home team advantage.  He would finally prove that he had spent his time away from home well.  He would impress all his old friends by proving his worth as a member of the most elite paramilitary unit of the world!  He grinned as he twirled his Buster Sword around in circles before sheathing it on his back.  "Hey, that move was pretty cool," he thought to himself.  "Might have to remember that one."  He smoothed out his spiky hair and walked downstairs.  Mr. Creoste was once again asleep at the desk.  Cloud grinned as he exited the inn into the town square.  The town, he observed with relief, was no longer deserted, but now a small crowd had congregated on the north side of town, next to the old ShinRa mansion.  It had been a long time since there had been any significant ShinRa presence here, but if Cloud remembered correctly, the mansion had been built a while back as a vacation home for a high-ranking ShinRa executive who wanted to get away from the big city.  It had long since been deserted, however, and rumors had spread about ghosts and vampires inhabiting the mansion.  Of course, these were the type of rumors bound to originate about a dark, foreboding mansion looming over the rest of a small town, and Cloud dismissed them out of hand.  He was too old for such childish nonsense.  He boldly strode towards the crowd, which slowly parted as he passed by.  His ears caught a few murmurs and gasps as he went by, and he tried his hardest to suppress his grin and maintain a straight, professional face.  No one could believe it was really him, Cloud Strife returning at last, and fighting alongside his hero just as he always said he would.  And there was his hero now, standing tall and proud in between the two uniformed soldiers.  He nodded solemnly as Cloud approached.  "Now we just have to wait for our guide."

            "You hired a guide?" said Cloud.  He was surprised any of the locals would be willing to come anywhere near a Mako reactor that ShinRa had reported as the source of monster disturbances.  Sephiroth nodded.  "And here she is now," said Sephiroth, gesturing to a teenage girl approaching.  She wore brown cargo pants and a tight white T-shirt, with a large brown, floppy hat concealing her face.  She raised her head to smile at the two SOLDIERs, and Cloud recognized-

            "Tifa?!?" he exclaimed incredulously.  "You're the guide?!?"

            Tifa gasped as she in turn recognized her friend.  "Cloud!" she exclaimed, running up and hugging him.  He was overjoyed to see her again, but nevertheless wrenched her free and held her at arm's length.  "I can't let you get involved in this!" he said earnestly, staring into her eyes.  "That place is dangerous!"  
            Tifa scoffed.  "Oh please, Cloud!" she said, hitting him playfully.  "You don't think you're the only one who went and learned how to fight, do you?"  Cloud recalled his conversation with the martial-artist from last night.

            Besides, she'll be fine if you protect her, right?"  Cloud turned in surprise to glance at Sephiroth, who was gazing at him with a wry grin.  

            "But I used to live here!" said Cloud.  "I can show the way."

            "Excuse me, Mr. SOLDIER, but did you ever actually climb Mt. Nibel?" said Tifa.  Cloud had to concede the point.  Monsters or no, climbing Mt. Nibel was a dangerous proposition, and had been out of the question when he was still living here as a child.  But she could have climbed it since then.  "Besides," said Tifa.  "You promised, right?"

            It took Cloud a moment for this to register, but then he remembered.  That last night by the well.  The promise he would never forget.  He nodded.  "And I meant it."  They smiled at each other, sharing the pleasant childhood memory.

            "Okay, that's enough," said Sephiroth.  "Let's head out."  He turned away from the crowd towards the path to Mt. Nibel.

            "Um…excuse me…Mr. Sephiroth?"  A man holding a large camera around his neck cautiously stepped out of the crowd.  Sephiroth stopped without turning.  The man froze for a moment, then spoke again.  "Would you mind…if I took a…er…quick picture before you leave?"

            Sephiroth sighed, but turned around.  "Make it quick," he said, gesturing for Cloud and Tifa to stand by his side.  The man looked slightly taken aback at two locals sullying the picture of the mighty Sephiroth, but didn't dare question him.  The three stood in a row, Cloud and Sephiroth flanking Tifa in that silly-looking hat.  "Okay everyone, say cheese!" exclaimed the man as the camera flashed.  "Thanks a lot!" he said before disappearing into the crowd.  Sephiroth again turned to leave.

            "Mr. Sephiroth?"  With an irritated sigh, Sephiroth whirled around once more to face the new civilian speaking.  It was Tifa's father, Cloud saw.

            "Please, take good care of my daughter," he said.

            "Dad, I'll be fine!" Tifa said, blushing with embarrassment.

            "I assure you, your daughter is in good hands," agreed Sephiroth, turning without another word.  "Let's go," he said, and he, Tifa, Cloud, and the two troops moved out of town, on the path towards the looming Mt. Nibel.

            Cloud and Tifa led the way up the steep trails up the mountain, chattering happily and catching up on each other's news that they had missed.  The two soldiers went side by side behind them, anxiously silent.  Sephiroth brought up the rear, also silent, impeccable warrior senses on the alert to the rear and front for any possible threats to his team.  He knew that they had already slain the biggest threat, but there were supposedly many other creatures about, though he had not yet seen any.  But still, something bothered him, something in the back of his mind that stubbornly refused to fully reveal itself, but also refused to leave.  This mountain…ever since he had seen it yesterday it had struck him as eerily familiar.  A vision from a dream, perhaps?  He shook his head, smiling.  That twitchy Professor Hojo would surely not have approved of the distinctively un-scientific notion of prophetic dreams.

            The air was getting progressively colder and thinner, but it didn't bother him overly much.  He had been through much worse without much trouble.  But that in itself was somewhat troubling.  Just what made him so much stronger than everyone else?  He had been like this as long as he could remember.  He had always been superior, and had always recognized it.  Was he just born this way?  But his father, his mother…everyone who could give him answers were gone.  But he had long ago ceased to worry much about it.  Endless worrying about a problem with no solution could very well drive a man insane.

            Cloud and Tifa halted as they came to the first real change in terrain yet in the hike, or rather a lack of terrain.  There was a huge chasm lying in front of them.  A rickety-looking rope bridge spanned the length of the gorge, connecting the two shores of grey rock.  Cloud walked up to the edge of the chasm and looked down to the cold, unforgiving ground hundreds of feet below.

            "Don't like the look of that bridge," muttered Cloud.  "You said you'd been here before, Tifa?"

            "Yeah," said Tifa.  "It looks pretty bad, but I've made it across.  And it's the only route without going quite a few miles out of our way."

            "Well, then I see no reason for hesitation," said Sephiroth, stepping up from the back of the group to the lead, and immediately started across the bridge, his long leather coat flapping in the wind that swayed the bridge back and forth.  Tifa followed without hesitation, leaving Cloud and the two soldiers lingering in uncertainty.  "Can't look bad in front of Sephiroth and Tifa," thought Cloud, boldly stepping onto the bridge.  The two soldiers timidly followed.  The bridge sagged under the weight of the five and creaked ominously, but it held.  Cloud held his breath, wishing he hadn't looked down.  He also wished one of the others beside the soldiers would show some sign of fear, but Sephiroth and Tifa pressed on confidently, so he forced himself onward.  But suddenly he heard a piercing scream behind him.  He whirled around to catch a glimpse of some sort of creature before the bridge was cut loose on the side from which they had just come.  Suddenly unsupported on one side, one side of the bridge fell to swing towards the cliff on the other side, with them still on it.  Tifa screamed in terror.

            "Grab on to the bridge!" yelled Sephiroth, and they all struggled to obey as the ground dropped out from beneath them.  Cloud grabbed onto the rope railing at the side of the bridge and held on for dear life as the bridge swung down, straight for the sheer rock cliff.  He closed his eyes, bracing for the inevitable impact.

            The bridge hit the rock wall with a sickening crack, and Cloud wholeheartedly expected it to break apart completely, sending them all falling to their deaths.  But it somehow held together and remained tethered to the top of the cliff.  But there was a scream from below, and Cloud looked down to see the rearmost soldier plummeting down into the chasm, flailing helplessly as he fell through the air.  "No!" screamed his comrade.

            "Come on!" ordered Sephiroth, and their attention was again drawn to their own situation.  They scrambled up the bridge, which had been effectively converted into a ladder, and soon were all up on the cliff, sitting silently in a circle.  Sephiroth soon broke the silence.

            "I know it sounds cruel, but…we have to leave him," he said with a sigh.  "There is no way he could have survived a fall like that.  I'll have a crew sent in to retrieve the body for burial."

            Tifa bit her quivering lip.  She hadn't known the man, of course, but she had never seen anyone die before.  And now here she was, atop the cold and merciless Mt. Nibel, having just survived a collapsing bridge only to see a man plummet screaming to his death.  Cloud silently put his arm around her and she leaned into him, trembling.

            "We have to get moving," said Sephiroth softly.  Cloud helped Tifa to her feet.  Sephiroth patted the surviving soldier on the shoulder.  Cloud couldn't help but wonder what this man was feeling behind that blue mask, having just seen his comrade die.  But now was not the time to ask, and they immediately set out through a hole in the nearby rock wall.

            Cloud found himself in a cave leading deep into the heart of the mountain.  They were out of the cold, biting wind, but it was replaced by a dank, stagnant coolness, perfectly augmented by the darkness.

            "It's not far now," said Tifa, taking the lead again to guide them along the narrow, winding path deeper into the mountain.  Even Cloud's Mako-enhanced eyes were having trouble piercing the darkness, but evidently Tifa had indeed been here before, and she led them at onward at a good pace.  Soon, however, Cloud spotted a light streaming from around the tunnel's next corner.

            "What's that?" he asked their guide.  She turned back to him with a queer smile.  "Just wait and see," she said as she walked on.  The light steadily grew, quickly becoming almost blinding compared to the pitch-blackness of the cave.  "What in the world?" Cloud thought as they came into view of a brilliantly lit chamber, into which Tifa led them.  It was a fairly large room, fairly unremarkable except for the source of light at its center.  Cloud gasped as he stared at what seemed to be liquid light spurting up through the ground, shining its radiance all around.

            "A Mako fountain…a miracle of nature," said Sephiroth.  Tifa grinned and nodded.

            "It's so beautiful," said Cloud, awestruck.  They all moved forward to examine it more closely.  The colorless, bright liquid was soundlessly bursting up through a small crack in the rock floor.  Around the crack there were also several beautiful crystals of various colors.

            "This is Mako?" asked the soldier.  Sephiroth nodded.  "This is what the reactor converts into power," he said.

            "If the reactor continues to suck up this energy, this fountain will dry up," said Tifa thoughtfully.  "Something so beautiful in nature, destroyed just to provide energy for us humans…"

            "What are those crystals growing up around the fountain?" asked Cloud.

            "Materia," said Sephiroth simply.  They all turned to him in surprise.  "What, you mean to tell me that they made you a SOLDIER without even telling you where Materia comes from?" he said to Cloud.  Cloud shrugged.  "They must be slacking up on the training program," said Sephiroth.  "Materia is nothing more than condensed Mako.  It's very rare to find it in its natural state like this.  Much of it is artificially created with special machines to accelerate the formation process, often in the reactors themselves."

            "What does Materia do?" asked Tifa.

            "Materia, like all Mako" said Sephiroth, emerald eyes gleaming, "contains the wisdom and knowledge of the Cetra."

            "Huh?  The Cetra?" said the soldier.

            Sephiroth nodded.  "The Cetra, the Ancients.  Anyone with this knowledge can freely call upon the powers of the Planet in various ways."

            "Magic," said Cloud, finally understanding.  Sephiroth started chuckling to himself.  "What's so funny?" said Cloud.

            "A man once told me never to use terms such as 'magic,'" said Sephiroth, grinning.  "They were too 'un-scientific.'"

            "And what man was this?" asked Cloud.

            "Professor Hojo, ShinRa's resident mad scientist," said Sephiroth.  "That man is a walking mass of mental problems.  An incompetent imposter assigned to take over the work of a true genius."  He shook his head.  "We'd better get going."

            "Can we take this Materia?" said Cloud eagerly.  "You know, to help us on the mission?"

            Sephiroth gravely shook his head.  "There's enough unnatural Materia in this world for us to use as is.  We should have respect for the Cetra, enough as to not exploit their knowledge for our gain when unnecessary."  Cloud was disappointed, hoping to have gained some new Materia, but nodded.  They rose from their examination of the wonder of the Planet and followed Tifa through another hole in the far wall of the chamber, back into the darkness of the tunnels.

            This string of tunnels was not particularly long, thankfully, and they soon emerged from the caves to a plateau near the summit of the mountain.  Looming above them on the plateau, almost reaching up to the mountain's peak was their destination: the Nibelheim Mako reactor.  "We finally made it," said Tifa.  "I've always wanted to go inside one of these things.  Looks like this is my chance!"

            But Sephiroth shook his head.  "I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here," he said, prompting an indignant look from their guide.  "We appreciate your help, but this reactor is full of ShinRa's industrial secrets.  We can't let civilians inside."

            "What, they think that a fourteen-year old girl is going to copy their technology and start a rival company?" Tifa exclaimed.

            "He's right, Tifa," Cloud said.  "Orders are orders."

            "Take care of the lady," Sephiroth said to the blue-clad soldier, who straightened and saluted smartly.  Sephiroth and Cloud then made for the stairs leading into the reactor.

            "M…man!  Better take REAL good care of me, then!" Cloud heard Tifa say from behind.  He smiled as he followed his captain into the Mako reactor.

            The reactor had a dark and unforgiving atmosphere, lit only by dim, ill-maintained electric lights above.  What the reactor lacked in light, however, it more than made up for in sound.  Chains clanked, gas hissed, and pistons pumped as the reactor labored non-stop to extract the knowledge of the Ancients from underneath the Earth.  Cloud had never questioned ShinRa before, but after seeing the beauty of the Mako fountain that was being ravaged simply for humans' convenience, he might have to take up his hero's somewhat cynical view of the corporation.

            He followed Sephiroth along a narrow walkway, past a series of moving chains performing some unknown function.  He looked down, into the intestines of the machine.  He couldn't see it for all the machinery, but he knew that somewhere down there was the beautiful, pure Mako, which somehow contained the wisdom of the Ancients.  Why was that, Cloud wondered.  What was it about the simple substance of Mako that somehow stored the secrets of the past inhabitants of the planet?  He had no clue, and the question was driven from his mind when Sephiroth spoke.

            "Ready for a climb, Cloud?" he shouted over the din of the machinery.  He nodded towards a ladder to their left.  Cloud looked down, and saw that the ladder extended almost out of sight, down into the very heart of the reactor.  Cloud gulped.  Sephiroth just grinned as he walked over to the ladder and started climbing down.  Shaking his head, Cloud followed, hoping his arms would hold out and not send him tumbling down to be ground into mush by some steel contraption.  Or maybe he would fall into the sea of Mako below it all.  Then maybe he could find out just why it knew what the Ancients did.  Maybe he would even acquire the knowledge of the Ancients himself.  That might be nice.

            At long last, they disembarked from the ladder onto another catwalk.  Cloud was near to panting, arms aching, but Sephiroth appeared unfazed, as always.  He calmly advanced towards a door leading into the innermost core of the reactor.  Trying to regain his breath, Cloud followed.  They entered into a metallic chamber filled with red light.  There was a stairway leading up to yet another chamber, this one sealed off by a large, heavy door.  Strange metal capsules about the size of a man were aligned in several tiers on each side of the stairs.  Most were sealed, but a few of the capsules were opened, empty.  Sephiroth advanced up the stairs without hesitation, all the way up to the large door.  He halted and stared for a moment.

            "So this is the Ancient…" he said to himself.

            "Huh?" said Cloud, running to catch up.  Sephiroth shook his head and turned to the right.  "Ah, here we are," he said.  "Cloud, go close that valve over there," he said, gesturing to a metal wheel mounted on the wall on the other side of the stairs.  Cloud hastened to obey, turning the wheel as far as it would go.  Sephiroth bent down, fiddling with a series of wires that were beyond Cloud's knowledge.  "Some of these wires were severed," said Sephiroth as he worked.  "This must be the reason for the malfunction."

            "But why would a malfunction down here create monsters?" asked Cloud.

            Sephiroth rose from his work, having repaired the damage.  "These capsules were built for the condensation of Mako energy to form Materia," he said.  "But that fool Hojo has converted them for another purpose, I believe.  Take a look inside," he said, gesturing to a capsule below them, with a window looking in on its contents.  Feeling rather uneasy, Cloud descended a few stairs and crossed over to the capsule.  He looked inside.  There were multi-colored mists swirling around inside, but Cloud could discern a shape behind the haze.  Suddenly, the capsule rocked as a vicious humanoid creature lunged forward against the window, screeching.  Cloud yelled and backed off.  The beast stared through the window from the other side, baring its slimy fangs, then resumed struggling to escape its prison to reach the human.  Cloud was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the front of the capsule burst open, and the creature leapt through the swirling mists escaping to face Cloud, growling.  It was the size and shape of a human, but black all over.  Repulsed, Cloud whipped out his Buster Sword and, before the creature could strike, slashed out in a diagonal slash.  Due to his haste, the blow was not particularly strong, but the Buster Sword was sharp and massive enough that the blade nevertheless clove straight through the creature's flesh and bone, nearly cutting it in two through the torso.  It gurgled as blood shot from the wound and collapsed in a puddle of its own fluids on the cold metal floor.

            "What…what was that thing???" gasped Cloud, eyes never leaving the horrid creature's remains.

            "It's you," said Sephiroth coolly.  Cloud turned to stare at him.  "Or rather, what you could have been if you had received more Mako."

            "I don't understand."

            "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with light amounts of Mako.  They receive enough to increase their abilities in combat, but not enough to significantly alter them otherwise.  The only actual change in appearance most SOLDIERs acquire is the glowing "Mako-eyes."  But just think: if just light amounts of Mako can make us so much more than normal, what could heavy amounts do?"

            Cloud considered Sephiroth's explanation.  "So…these used to be human, except they were exposed to lots of Mako?"

            "You catch on pretty quick, after all," remarked Sephiroth.  Cloud beamed at the rare compliment.  "Professor Gast pioneered the Mako injection technique to create elite warriors.  But this only works up to a certain point.  That idiot Hojo must have figured that if light Mako exposure could improve humans' abilities, then heavy Mako exposure would do even better.  And as a result, we have these twisted remnants of humans, their bodies warped and mutated by Mako poisoning."

            "Mako poisoning?"

            "Humans aren't accustomed to the heavy energies of Mako.  Even the minor amounts given to SOLDIERs could be lethal to humans of weaker constitution.  That's why only the strongest are selected for the process.  But even the strongest human can't take much Mako without being twisted or killed."

            "But how could you know about that when even ShinRa's head scientist doesn't?" asked Cloud.  But Sephiroth's attention was riveted on a sign above the door at the top of the staircase.  He slowly approached, eyes held to the sign.  Cloud looked up to the sign that was so fascinating to Sephiroth.  It bore a single word: Jenova.  "Jenova…" Cloud muttered.  "Hey, Sephiroth, wasn't your mother named Jenova?"

            But Sephiroth still didn't reply, only touched the door with his gloved hand, reading the sign over and over.  "So is this the answer?" he whispered quietly.  "Was I created this way, too?"

            "What?" said Cloud.  "But you're human!"  
            "Am I?" said Sephiroth, shaking his head and leaning against the metal door.  "I've always been better.  I've always been different…"

            "But you're no monster like these!" exclaimed Cloud.

            "My mother was Jenova…"

            "What does that matter?" said Cloud.  "Maybe it's just…"

            "How many humans do you know named Jenova???" snapped Sephiroth.  Cloud shrank back, and Sephiroth turned back to the door.  Cloud was becoming truly disturbed at seeing his normally calm, controlled hero in such a state.  "Sephiroth, just relax!" he said nervously.  "We've fixed the problem, now we can just head back to Midgar and…"

            But Sephiroth was in no mood to be consoled.  Whirling around he shoved Cloud roughly out of his way and stormed out of the chamber.  Cloud recovered himself and ran after him, only to find him flying up the ladder at a pace he could never match, especially with his arms already tired from the descent.  He called up to Sephiroth, hoping to finally appeal to his reason, but the older man seemed beyond all logic at this point, and silently continued his climb.  Not sure what to make of his hero's state of mind, Cloud wearily started to follow.  It took nearly an hour, but at last he made it.  He hoped he didn't run into any monsters, because, he frankly didn't know that his arms had the strength to even lift it.  Shakily, he exited the reactor to find Tifa and the other soldier still waiting by the door.

            "Where's Sephiroth?" Cloud demanded without preamble.

            "He ran off, sir!" said the soldier, quickly saluting.  "He gave no orders to follow him, so I retained my post with the guide."

            "Cloud, just what is going on?" Tifa demanded, hands on her hips.

            "I don't know," he replied quietly.  "Sephiroth found out something that he didn't like, and ever since he acted really strangely.  I have no clue what he might do when he's like this.  We need to find him as soon as possible.

            "But sir, the bridge collapsed!" exclaimed the soldier.

            "There's a path that goes all the way down into the canyon," said Tifa, gazing at Cloud somewhat fearfully.  "It'll take a lot longer, but it's the only way without the bridge.  Sephiroth will have to have gone that way, as well."

            Cloud set his jaw, realizing that in Sephiroth's absence, he was now the group's leader.  He was responsible for taking care of all of them, particularly Tifa.  "Let's go."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About bloody time.  Again, I was planning to make the chapter longer, up until the best CG movie in the game, but decided that it was long enough, and I needed to update soon anyway.  So here ya go.  Don't think I made any significant changes which really need comments, so I'll shut up now, with the usual request for criticism/praise/advice/ranting/whatever.

Celtic Guardian 7:  Yeah, Cloud's new Materia being Pre-Emptive kinda irked me.  So he's all psyched up about "using" a Materia that isn't really actively used at all?  So I decided to give him the same Materia he had when he joined AVALANCHE.  Ties things together better, in my opinion.

Stratadrake:  I'm not gonna focus too much on the technicalities of magic use.  I'm mostly focusing on plot + characters here.  But I have an idea on how I'll work spells, I believe.  

Neon-Ronin + k50:  Thanksya all!


	21. The Nightmare's Beginning

The Nightmare's Beginning

"We've finished searching civilians' houses, sir! There's no sign of him!"

Cloud nodded glumly and dismissed the soldier to return to his post. He couldn't show it, of course, but he was deeply troubled. It had been two days since Sephiroth had fled from the reactor, and they had combed the entire area searching for him. But all to no avail. Where could he be? It wasn't like him just to desert an assignment like this, even if the mission had technically been accomplished. But Sephiroth wasn't like him either, from what Cloud had seen. Seeing his mother's name atop the door in the reactor had affected Sephiroth in a way that Cloud could not begin to fathom. But that name hardly meant that Sephiroth's mother Jenova and this Ancient Jenova were the same. After all, how could Sephiroth be the child of an Ancient? He was human, wasn't he? Cloud stopped his mind from continuing its fruitless questioning. The only way he would find answers was to find Sephiroth, but unfortunately, that was exactly what he could not do. He raised his head to the sky, as if it might offer a clue to his captain's whereabouts. But as his eyes rose, they fell upon the one place in all of the Nibel area that he had not yet searched: the old ShinRa mansion. It loomed there just as it always did, dark spires clawing for the sky and overlooking the comparatively insignificant hamlet. Cloud felt a shiver run down the back of his spine as he stared up at the impassive structure. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to stay away from the dark building. He wanted nothing more, except to find Sephiroth. Putting on his best brave look, Cloud walked into through the gate into the mansion's courtyard. It was desolate and lifeless, not a creature or blade of grass anywhere to be seen. Gulping nervously, Cloud crossed as quickly as he could to the mansion's large, heavy door. Indeed, it was hanging open. Evidently someone had been here recently. Cloud pulled open the wooden door, which creaked loudly on its rusty hinges, and entered into the long-deserted mansion.

The interior was not, as Cloud expected, dark and shadowy as was the exterior. On the contrary, a multitude of windows all along the eastern side of the house let in a flood of sunlight, dispelling every hint of darkness. The house had evidently been designed well, as would befit ShinRa. The sunlight illuminated a marble staircase leading up to a second floor hallway, the eastern side of which was made of entirely of glass to form a huge window. Cloud made for this, more because of the unexpected pleasantness of the light than any logical reason. But as the surprise of the light faded from his mind, another sensation began to force itself upon him, or rather the lack of a sensation. The manor was totally silent. His footsteps echoed loudly throughout the vast space with no sound competing to drown them out. Cloud stopped and strained his ears for some sound, a creak, a breeze, anything, but could hear nothing. He would have been grateful for the flutter of a bat's wings, or even a scream. At least that would prove that this was a place accommodating of life. But the mansion remained silent as the crypt. Trying vainly to ignore the lack of any sounds of life, Cloud ascended the staircase to the large window overlooking the fenced-in backyard and the rocky terrain beyond leading up to Mt. Nibel. He surveyed the interior surroundings. A hallway ran to the left and right. He went to the left, finding that the hallway terminated by leading into three small rooms. While the rooms well also well-lit due to their multitude of windows and rather prettily decorated, there was no trace of Sephiroth. Cloud retraced his steps down the hallway and continued past the stairway to the right side of the hallway. This side was much darker than the left, lacking the windows to illuminate the hall, indeed lacking lighting of any sort. The hall halted to extend to both sides. There were several doors along the new hallway, but only the rightmost one was open. Cloud thought he detected an odd, musty odor emitting from the door. He cautiously entered the room, which turned out to be wholly unremarkable save for another door, set into a stone wall. This door, also, was cracked open, letting through a weak beam of light. There was a large, heavy iron lock on the floor near the door, which appeared to have been sliced cleanly off. "The work of the Masamune," Cloud thought with certainty. He continued through this door, only to gape down at, and below his feet. For he was at the top of a round stone chamber extending far downwards, below the foundation of the building and deep into the earth. Lit torches and a weak-looking wooden staircase lined the wall of the round room, leading down to the distant bottom. He did not like the idea of trusting his life this ancient wooden stairway, especially considering his recent experience with a bridge of similar structural integrity. But there was no monster to destroy it this time around, plus Sephiroth must have already been here. Crossing his gloved fingers, Cloud stepped through the doorway onto the first plank of the stairway. It creaked slightly, but felt solid. Feeling slightly better, he continued to the next step, and the next, and the next, all the way down the spiral path to the bottom.

Before, Cloud had been in a pleasant-looking area that was as silent as the crypt. Now the metaphorical crypt was a reality. He found himself in a dark and dank chamber carved out of the very earth. While the mansion itself had been silent and lifeless, this new environment seemed to live and breathe just as Cloud did. But its life seemed more of an undeath, its breath the foul stench of decay. Every single sound he made reverberated off the organic walls, traveling the length of the corridor only to return distorted and horrifying, the sound of a creeping phantasm. Cloud was involuntarily reminded of the tales of a vampire that resided within a crypt far beneath the mansion, and they didn't seem quite so unreasonable anymore. While it may have been easy to declare his disbelief for ghost stories from a distance, it was considerably harder to disbelieve such tales when he was wandering through one. He could imagine every boogieman and phantom that ever invaded the dreams of children also inhabiting this place. The rest of the mansion had been so aesthetically pleasing, so in contrast with this haven of darkness; what had happened down here?

Struggling to control the terror gripping his heart, Cloud ran headlong into the darkness, in a blind search for his hero. He still had yet to see any creature, but he still felt some dark presence nearby, a presence that wanted nothing more than to destroy any intruder. He sprinted full speed to escape its clutches. He didn't know how long he hurtled through the blackness, but after a while he saw a light at the end of the passage, and pushed his legs even harder to escape this place of horror. He forced himself to refrain from looking over his shoulder to search for his assailant, focusing his eyes solely on that faint light, that warm glow that had suddenly become his only hope in this place of death. With a desperate cry he made a final leap for the light, and tumbled through the open doorway into safety.

Breathing heavily, Cloud regained his feet and took stock of his surroundings. He was in what was unmistakably a library, an odd ending to the fearful passage through which he had just passed. Lamps cast a warm glow onto shelves upon shelves of books of all shapes and sizes. This chamber was not stone nor plain earth, as had been the preceding rooms, but wood. Cloud had passed through a pleasant upstairs area to descend into a hellish dungeon, only to re-emerge into a warm, cozy room. There seemed to be no order to this mansion after all, unless the terrifying environment of the dark area had been to dissuade casual visitors from finding the inexhaustible supply of information in this room. But what could be so important?

Sephiroth was not here, but Cloud's ears caught the sound of turning pages through a passageway on the left side of the room. He entered the passageway to emerge into another circular room of books, with a heavy wooden desk in the center. But Cloud saw only the figure pacing in front of the desk. There was Sephiroth, pacing rapidly back and forth, furiously turning pages in a volume as if it contained within it the mysteries of life itself. He gave no acknowledgement of Cloud's presence.

"September 18: Unidentified organism of unknown origin found frozen in a 2000 year-old geological stratum. September 23: Tests reveal organism to be an Ancient. Ancient is codenamed Jenova. October 2: Jenova Project approved by ShinRa board of executives. Mako reactor 1 approved for use of the Jenova Project. But what is the Jenova Project? You tell me all the statistics, but you don't tell me what the damn thing is!" Sephiroth shook his head tiredly. "Professor Gast…why did you have to die? Why didn't you tell me anything?"

Despite Sephiroth's odd rambling, Cloud felt a warm flood of relief overtake him. "Sephiroth!" he said happily. Sephiroth's head snapped up, and Cloud's relief disappeared as rapidly as it had come. Sephiroth was never seen looking in disarray. Even after a major battle, his demeanor was always calm, his appearance nearly impeccable. But now Sephiroth's normally well-groomed silver hair was sticking up crazily at all angles, framing his sweat-stained face and his emerald eyes, glowing with a fierce look of anxiety bordering on hysteria. But as soon as he recognized the visitor, his eyes returned to his book. "Leave me alone," he said.

"Sephiroth…" said Cloud worriedly.

"LEAVE ME!" shouted Sephiroth furiously, eyes blazing. Cloud immediately backed off, unnerved by this show of rage from the most powerful man on the planet, and Sephiroth returned to his book as if the encounter had never happened. Cloud stared just stared at the broken figure, normally standing tall and proud, now pacing restlessly, bent over a book and muttering to himself. This was not the Sephiroth he knew and so admired, yet he was powerless to help him. All he could do was hope that Sephiroth found the answers he was looking for in these books, and that these answers would confirm his hopes, rather than his darkest fears.

Cloud was suddenly awakened by the sound of laughter. He slowly climbed to his feet from his spot leaning up against one of the bookcases and listened. The laughter was high-pitched and incessant, almost hysterical. It hardly sounded like the laughter of relief and happiness. Heart filled with the utmost dread, Cloud slowly walked through the passage into the other room of the library. There was Sephiroth, no longer bent over a book, but now standing tall once more, with his head thrown back, laughing insanely.

"Seph…Sephiroth?" he said fearfully. Sephiroth stopped laughing to look at the newcomer. "Hello, traitor," he said acidly.

"Traitor?" Cloud said.

"You ignorant betrayer," spat Sephiroth. "This Planet originally belonged to the master race, the Cetra. They were a proud people, an itinerant race. They moved around the Planet, using their immense powers to settle and beautifying it for all living creatures. Then, when they had finished their monumental task of taming the wild lands and making the Planet a land of purity and beauty, they would find their reward: the Promised Land of supreme happiness.

'Of course, those who disliked such labor eventually appeared. They opted to stop the migration and work and simply settle down in one area, build a settlement. Sound familiar?"

"Huh?" said Cloud helplessly.

"Fool!" blazed Sephiroth. "Those were your ancestors! The disgraceful wretches who renounced the righteous mission of the Cetra for a life of simplicity and sloth! They exploited all that the true Cetra had done for this Planet without giving a thing in return!"

"I…I don't understand…"

Sephiroth stepped in close, looming over him menacingly. "The first humans," he growled. "The predecessors of the human race as we know it were those traitors to the master race. In time, through their abandonment of their mission, they began to lose their powers, until they became the pathetic creatures they are today. Humans," he hissed, "mere shadows of the proud Cetra. The only powers they retain from their days of glory manifest in Limit Breaks, and even those can only be used in situations of extreme emotional duress, not used at will as with true Cetra."

Cloud's fear continuously increased as he listened. Why was Sephiroth referring to humans in the third person and with such contempt, as if he was not one himself?

"Then came the Great War of the Cetra," continued Sephiroth, lost in his own tale. "One of the most powerful Cetra the Planet had ever seen, Karamazov, lost patience with the arduous, seemingly endless task of civilizing the entire Planet. He wanted to find a way to skip the whole process and immediately discover the Promised Land. Many agreed with this and joined his faction. The rest of the Cetra resisted, and a great war broke out. Karamazov's forces were mighty, and his powers unheard of, but he was eventually overcome by sheer weight of numbers. Then, as a final measure, Karamazov created an unbelievable force of sheer destruction to destroy the world as it existed, and hopefully uncover the Promised Land from its ruins. The fool. He would have destroyed himself along with the rest of the Planet. But thanks to his enemy, the world was largely shielded from the wrath of his spell. Nevertheless, massive damage was done, and most of the Cetra were killed. Those that were not slowly dwindled out, giving over the Planet to those who survived: the humans! The filthy, cowardly humans, who only survived by hiding out in the northern caves.

'The Planet was saved by the sacrifice of the Cetra! Saved for you! You pathetic, primitive beasts!" hissed Sephiroth, glaring at Cloud furiously. "Thanks to you, all that's left of the Cetra are in these reports. These, and in the reactor…" His eyes acquired a faraway look.

"But…what does all that have to do with you?" Cloud finally managed.

"Don't you get it?" demanded Sephiroth. "Jenova, placed in a Mako reactor where humans are imbued with Mako? The Jenova Project?" Cloud remained silent, fearful to even speak. "Imbecile," said Sephiroth. "The Jenova Project's goal was to create humans with the powers of the Cetra."

"But isn't that what they do in SOLDIER by injecting us with Mako and all?" asked Cloud.

"Ah, but that is such a primitive, imperfect technique," said Sephiroth. "The Jenova Project sought to take the process further by not just injecting existing humans with Mako, but by using a complete Cetra to build a being from the ground up." He stood up proudly, and Cloud saw the stature of the SOLDIER he knew, but different. His eyes were no longer soft, but harsh and unforgiving, condemning all that was unfortunate enough to attract their attention. "I am the being that was produced."

"Pr…produced?" Cloud stammered, horrified.

"Using the Cetra, Jenova, the ingenious Professor Gast produced me, the only living creature possessing the full powers of the Cetra. I am the sole living successor of that noble race!" Sephiroth said, eyes shining. "Unless…"

"S…Sephiroth?" said Cloud.

Suddenly, Sephiroth charged forward, shoving Cloud out of the way. "Out of my way, human," he growled. "I'm going to see my mother."

"Sephiroth, please!" pleaded Cloud. "Stay here! I don't understand!" But Sephiroth just continued out through the passageway and out of the library. Cloud just stood there for a while, his mind racing to try and digest what had just transpired. So Sephiroth wasn't human after all, nor had he ever been. Even those monsters in the reactor had been human once. But Sephiroth wasn't human at all. Instead he had been…created from the Ancient, Jenova? But how? Cloud just didn't understand. This was all so much to digest so suddenly. Especially for Sephiroth, who seemed hardly to be himself. Sephiroth…suddenly Cloud had a terrible, irrational fear. He could not explain it, but his mind was suddenly filled with Sephiroth's ranting against humanity, and had a premonition of a horrible fate befalling humans at his hand. And the nearest humans were right outside this manor…his home. Cloud sprinted out of the library and through the dungeon, suddenly in a race against time.

Cloud burst out of the mansion's front door, and his heart stopped. Fire. The entire village of Nibelheim was nothing more than a huge inferno. Towering flames hungrily licked the night sky, shedding a hellish light onto the horrific scene. Not a single home had escaped the all-consuming flames. Just like that, his home was destroyed before his very eyes. Anguish filled Cloud's stationary heart as he stood dumbly gazing at the demise of his homeland before his rational mind kicked in. "You idiot, Cloud! There could still be people alive in there!" He took off in a mad dash into the very center of the conflagration, in the town square. The flames wouldn't catch on the mere streets, so he had a fairly clear path. But everything surrounding the square was as good as gone. Including his own home, he observed with dread. "No…Mom…"

"Hey, SOLDIER!" Cloud heard over the roar of the flames. He dumbly turned to face the voice, and saw the martial artist from the inn, Zangan, bending over a badly burned man. "You're still sane, right?" Cloud nodded, unable to muster words. "Check in that house over there!" said Zangan, pointing to a burning structure to Cloud's left. Cloud immediately complied, leaping through the burning doorframe into the house. Flames and smoke obscured his view, and he immediately started coughing as the fumes penetrated his lungs. But his sharp ears caught the sound of someone whimpering in fear nearby. Gritting his teeth, Cloud charged quickly through the flames into the back corner of the room. There was the photographer of a few days ago cowering in the corner, caught between flames and a hard place. Cloud roughly grabbed him and, using his Mako and training-enhanced muscles, hoisted him up onto his shoulder and charged once more through the flames and out of the house. He carried the man a few paces more, into the town square and away from anything inflammable, before placing him on the ground. The man was blackened by soot and coughing fiercely due to the prolonged exposure to the smoke, but seemed otherwise alright. He squinted up at Cloud through his wheezing, weakly smiling a thank-you. Cloud nodded and rose to his feet, surveying the town for anyone else in need of rescue. Instead, he observed the sight which would haunt his dreams for years to come.

On the northern outskirts of town stood Sephiroth in front of a towering wall of flame. He calmly observed the carnage with a straight face, coat and long silver hair waving slightly as he stood. Cloud was about to call out to him when the awful truth hit him. Sephiroth…it had been he who had done this. His newfound hatred for humanity had led him to set fire to an entire innocent village. Sephiroth saw Cloud's stare then, and smiled slightly, but in a way that Cloud had never seen. There was no trace of kindness in this smile, but mocking and spite, an evil smirk at Cloud's helplessness to stop him or save his home. He then turned and, with the enormous Masamune at his side, calmly strode into the roaring inferno.

Cloud ran. His lungs were about to explode, his legs collapse, and his heart burst, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was finding Sephiroth. He didn't know what he would do when he found him. Would he ask why he had done this? Would he challenge him? He crossed the newly repaired bridge over the chasm into which the soldier had plummeted, the first of the legacy of death that would be his hometown's only mark in the history books. He disembarked from the bridge and sprinted through the tunnels through which Tifa had led them before. It was even darker than before, but Cloud did not slow his pace. He raced through the brightly lit chamber, neglecting to stop and enjoy the beauty of the Mako fountain, but instead continuing out the exit on the other side and back into the caves. His mind was completely numb from the horror, and his body automatically carried him through and out of the caves, and up to and into the Mako reactor.

The reactor itself was the same as before, but despite the constant roar of the machines, it seemed to Cloud that the air hung with a silence as heavy and foreboding as that of the ShinRa mansion. He made his way over to the ladder down which he had descended those three long days ago and again started to climb down to the heart of the reactor, where he knew he would find him. The climb was just as long as before, but before Cloud knew it he was down on the catwalk at the bottom. He was about to continue into the small chamber when his eyes fell upon someone he had never expected to find. Immediately in front of the door into the inner chamber was Tifa, on her knees and sobbing. Next to her lay the huge katana which had slain countless foes, and was now irrevocably stained with the blood of hundreds of innocents. "Papa…" she said in a voice fraught with grief. "Sephiroth, SOLDIER, Mako Reactors, ShinRa. . .I HATE THEM ALL!!!" she wailed. Before Cloud could approach her or try to comfort her, she wiped her face and rose to her feet, picking up the Masamune that Sephiroth had dropped. While it was light enough for Sephiroth to wield effortlessly, the blade was almost too much for Tifa. But her desperation and anguish fueled her strength beyond that of her small frame, and she was able to hold it unsteadily in front of her as she ran into the inner chamber.

"Tifa!" Cloud called fearfully, but his voice was lost amongst the din of the machinery. What was she planning to do with the Masamune? Surely she wasn't… He sprinted full-speed into the chamber, only to find that he was too late, powerless to stop what was about to happen. Sephiroth was standing at the top of the stairs, in front of the still-sealed metal door which contained Jenova. But charging up behind him, with the Masamune pointing ahead like a jouster's lance, was his best friend, about to challenge the strongest man alive. But the challenge would be short-lived. Sephiroth heard the girl's loud footfalls on the metallic floor, and just as the point of the blade was about to dig into his back, he deftly stepped to the left, and the blade clanged harmlessly against the metal door. In a flash, Sephiroth grasped the blade and whirled it around, hurling Tifa into the metal door. She cried out and was about to collapse, but Sephiroth was quicker even than gravity, as he spun his katana around to grasp its handle and lashed out with the blade. Cloud cried in dismay as Tifa came tumbling down the stairs, leaving behind a trail of blood. Sephiroth turned back to facing the door, the girl being of no further concern to him. Cloud ran up to her as she came to rest on the platform of one of the tiers of capsules. He bent down and tenderly lifted her in his arms. She was completely motionless, a bloody mess. Fighting back tears, he slowly carried her down the steps to the bottom of the chamber and gently set her down, leaning her against one of the capsules. He knelt down beside her, in utter anguish. Sephiroth had taken everything. First, Cloud's faith in his employer's had gone when Sephiroth had described ShinRa's motives in the war, not to mention when he had discovered that they bred monsters. Then Sephiroth had destroyed the entire village of Nibelheim, the only true home he had ever known. And at last, the final despair, Sephiroth had slain his best friend. This could not be forgiven. Sephiroth had once been his hero, but that Sephiroth no longer existed. All that remained was the bloodthirsty, crazed man up at the top of the staircase, seeking the remains of the creature who he called his mother. Sephiroth could not remain, not after this. Cloud knew what he had to do. It would be the death of him, that was certain. But he had no choice. Yet first he had to say goodbye. He bent down over Tifa, close to her face. For what purpose, he did not know. But as he drew close to her, he felt a faint breeze upon his face. He jerked his head back in surprise and examined her. She was breathing! Cloud hastily tore strips off his uniform to use as bandages, and then saw that the cut Sephiroth inflicted actually had not been too deep. He must have been more intent on gaining entrance into Jenova's room than slaying the girl. Cloud bandaged her wound nonetheless, thanking whatever powers that be that at least someone had been left to him. Not that he would be left on this Planet for much longer. He rose to his feet and drew his sword. The door at the top of the room was now open, and Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen. Without a second thought, Cloud ascended the stairs and entered the inner sanctum of Jenova.

The room was fairly sparse, consisting mainly of a walkway winding upwards and across a seeming void. Sephiroth stood at the far end of the walkway, facing a huge metal statue. The statue was that of a woman, standing upon the edge of the walkway, looking down right at Sephiroth. It also appeared to actually be a machine of some sort, with wires extending from it into the apparent nothingness of the rest of the room. Sephiroth, as Cloud was becoming used to, gave no acknowledgement of his entrance, but just stared rapturously up into the statue's lifeless eyes.

"Mother, I've thought of a great idea," said Sephiroth adoringly. "Let's take back this Planet together for all the Cetra. Let's go to the Promised Land! Yes, of course!"

Cloud was in no mood to listen to Sephiroth's insane ramblings to a piece of metal. "Sephiroth!" he called out. Sephiroth didn't turn, didn't even remove his eyes from the statue's. "There's another one. They are such a nuisance, aren't they, Mother?"

"Damn it, Sephiroth!" yelled Cloud. "I'm talking to you! Me, Cloud Strife! Your former protégé!"

"Only a human," muttered Sephiroth.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! LISTEN TO ME!" screamed Cloud.

Sephiroth suddenly whirled around, and Cloud immediately doubted that attracting his attention was such a good idea. His face was contorted into a mask of rage as alien as that of the statue, his eyes blazing with vicious green flames as deadly as those consuming the village. "Don't you DARE insult Mother!!!" he screamed shrilly.

"And why not? Why should you have your precious mother after all you've done?" shouted Cloud. "You just killed my mother, along with the rest of this entire town! What makes you so much more privileged? Why shouldn't you be burning too, you sick fuck?"

"Because," said Sephiroth, glowering down at him from the uplifted end of the walkway, "You are merely humans. I, on the other hand, am the Chosen One."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Cloud.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Sephiroth. "Perhaps not to a traitor like you. I have been chosen by Mother to retake this Planet for the Cetra. I will be the one to cleanse the Planet of the scourge of humanity and make it safe for the Cetra once more."

"The Cetra are dead, Sephiroth!" said Cloud. "The only one left is your beloved Mother, and she doesn't look too lively to me!"

"Oh, really?" said Sephiroth. "Why don't you say hello to your visitor yourself, Mother?" He then moved over to the statue and reached up to its face. He depressed two buttons on the sides of the face, and suddenly steam starting hissing forth from two previously unseen ridges in the head. He started to pull the front part of the statue's face off, to reveal…

"Bolt!" Cloud shouted, and lightning streaked forth from his hands to strike Sephiroth in the back. It was far too weak a spell to do any actual damage to such an enemy, but Sephiroth did stop trying to remove the statue's mask to face Cloud once more, fury contorting his features. "This is between you and me, Sephiroth!" shouted Cloud. "You killed my town, you killed my mother, and you tried to kill my best friend! Now it's your turn!"

Sephiroth threw his head back in hysterical laughter for a moment, then looked back down, never having laughed in his life. "Foolish human," he said. Cloud didn't reply, only raised his Buster Sword to a standard guard. Sephiroth drew the bloodstained Masamune from his side and held it above his head, pointing at Cloud's face as he prepared to spring down upon his foe. There was no question. Cloud Strife was about to die.

This flashback has just dragged on, but it's pivotal to the plot, so I guess it's okay. So my descriptions of the mansion's interior and the Jenova chamber were kinda lacking. This is a result not only of my normal deficiency in setting the scene, but also of my not having played in a while, and forgotten many details of what the place looked like. Also, for those of you who have played FFVII, as most of you certainly have, you may have caught the reference to a vampire in a crypt beneath the mansion. Would this be accurate, i.e. was Mr. Valentine down there when Cloud first ventured under the mansion in the flashback? As I have said, I haven't played for a while, and so some details are hazy in my mind. Oh, and inflammable means the same as flammable, so don't even try. But people thought "Oh, inflammable. Must mean it can't burn," so they started labeling all the trucks as "Flammable" to avoid confusion, and…okay, that's enough. Little reference to Dostoyevsky with the Cetra of whom Sephiroth spoke: I was too lazy to think of a cool evil-sounding name. Maybe I'll change it later when I'm feeling more creative. Alright, time for me to shut it. But not you all. You're supposed to tell me stuff now.

Dark ki: Yeah, I figured it out. No problem.

Spikestrife: Obviously, I agree with your opinion on the mutant emerging scene. It was pretty cool, but rather incomplete. Okay, so there's a monster on the loose. Shouldn't there be a battle or at least a scene of it running off or something? But that's what I'm all about. Telling the story, but fixing little details (or big details, as the case may be), to make the story more plausible and better flowing.

Stratadrake: As always, thanks for the corrections. You nailed my thoughts on the chapter title precisely. The "fall" didn't really occur until this chapter, but I wanted to keep this chapter's title as it is now.


	22. The Journey Begins

The Journey Begins

Aeris, Barret, Red XIII, and Tifa stared intently at Cloud, waiting for him to finish his story. "Well? What happened then?" asked Aeris.

Cloud shook his head. "I…don't remember."

There was a few moments of shocked silence at this. "The hell you mean you don' remember???" demanded Barret at last. "You get to the big showdown an' all, an' you ain't gonna tell us how it ends?"

"I'm sorry, I just don't remember," Cloud repeated. "I remember Sephiroth staring down at me, holding his katana, and thinking that I was going to die. But the next thing I remember is weeks later. I simply have no memory of how it ended."

"It hardly matters at this point, anyway," offered Red XIII.

"An' why don't it matter? Seems like a big problem ta me!" said Barret.

"Regardless of the outcome of the fight," said Red XIII, coolly looking at Barret, "we are already sure of two things. Cloud obviously survived the battle, and recent events would lead us to believe that Sephiroth is alive as well. And that's all we really need to know, correct?" Barret fumed but didn't reply, the most of a concession he ever gave.

"And yet the official records state that Sephiroth is dead," Aeris said. "I read that in a newspaper not too long ago."

"ShinRa controls the papers. Of course they would say that," said Cloud. "It wouldn't look very good for ShinRa if their best man went crazy, slaughtered a bunch of innocents, and was still at large, would it?" The group nodded assent. "Officially, Sephiroth died trying to protect Nibelheim from a horde of the monsters that eventually burned it to the ground. I was interviewed numerous times after the incident and was told that I had to stick with that story myself. But still," he said, with a faraway look, "I want to know what happened that day. I challenged Sephiroth and lived. There's no way I was that good. And yet even if I was, I would have killed him, yet he's still alive."

"And I'm alive too," chimed Tifa.

"Some pretty big holes in your story, SOLDIER-boy," remarked Barret. "An' what about that damn headless spook in the ShinRa buildin'? Didn' you say that was Jenova?"

"That was it," said Cloud, nodding. "But it was gone when I passed by the second time, after we escaped."

"Do you think…Sephiroth took it?" asked Aeris.

"Seems like the likeliest answer to me," Cloud said gravely. "And the most dangerous."

"Why the most dangerous?" asked Tifa.

"Sephiroth is the most powerful man alive. He alone is enough of a threat. I hardly dare to think of what he could do with a bona-fide Cetra on his side."

"What's that Jenova thing gonna do? It ain't got no head!" said Barret with a laugh.

"Don't underestimate the Cetra, Barret," Aeris said in a low voice. They turned to look at her, surprised at this unaccustomed demeanor. "While I may look, and in many respects am mostly human, the Cetra of old were a completely different species. They had the ability to manipulate the forces of the universe itself to serve them in what we call "magic." Compared to humans, their powers were almost limitless, and they could certainly shape-shift into a headless form to appear dead to naïve onlookers."

"So she made herself appear dead, just waiting for the right time for someone to aid her in her escape," said Cloud. Aeris nodded grimly. "From Cloud's description, it sounded like Jenova was imprisoned pretty securely, between that statue machine around her and the sealed metal door. Why go through all that trouble unless you were afraid of the prisoner escaping?"

"Jenova is alive," Cloud said with a nod. "I don't know how I know, but somehow when I passed that container in the ShinRa building, I just knew. Jenova is alive, and is with Sephiroth."

"But what do you think they are going to do?" asked Red XIII. Cloud pondered this. Why would Sephiroth show up now? What had happened recently that would interest him so much to cause him to break into the ShinRa Headquarters?

"Aeris…" he said finally.

"Hm?" she asked.

"It's you. You're the reason Sephiroth broke in."

"What do you mean?" asked Aeris, somewhat fearfully.

"Why did ShinRa capture you?" said Cloud.

"To do some freaky experiments on me, so they could find…oh no…" she fell silent.

"I don' get it!" said Barret.

Cloud sighed. "Since they thought Jenova was dead, ShinRa captured Aeris to experiment on her. To try to find the Promised Land."

"So that's it…" said Tifa. "Sephiroth wanted to keep ShinRa from finding the Promised Land. That's why he killed many of them and freed us."

"Don't see nothin' wrong with that," said Barret, crossing his arms.

"Do you think that Sephiroth will stop with that?" asked Aeris. "You heard what Cloud said. Sephiroth hates all humans! What's to stop him from killing all of you?"

"So what? He's gonna kill every single human on the Planet? How's he plannin' to do somethin' like that?"  
"I don't know," said Cloud. "But I wouldn't put it past him." The group turned to stare in surprise at this statement. He looked at them in all seriousness. "If there's a way, he'll find it."

"I agree with Barret," said Red XIII. "How could one man possibly destroy an entire race?"

"It does sound like a pretty high task," admitted Cloud. "But at any rate, he'll be sure to repeat what happened in Nibelheim. And if there is some way to commit mass destruction against all humans, he'll be the one to find it."

There was a somewhat awed silence as they all processed this information: that the most powerful man in the world sought to destroy them all.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Barret at last.

"We're out of the immediate danger of ShinRa," said Cloud. "It's up to all of us to decide for ourselves.

"What are you going to do, Cloud?" asked Tifa.

Cloud clenched his fist, a look of grim determination upon his face. "I'm going after him," he said. "I'll never forgive him for what he did. And now it appears that the fate of all of us depends on stopping him, anyway."

"I'm going with you," said Tifa immediately. "I can't just sit here while Sephiroth slaughters more innocents like he did my friends and family."

Cloud nodded, then looked at the rest of the circle in turn. Barret, Aeris, and Red XIII were silent. "What about you, Aeris?" he asked. She looked up, and smiled slightly. "As much as I want to keep the Promised Land out of ShinRa's hands, killing everyone is hardly the way to do it. I'm in." Cloud allowed a small smile at the knowledge of Aeris' joining. "And what about you two?" he said to the two remaining members.

"Where are you going?" inquired Red XIII.

"Wherever Sephiroth is," Cloud replied with a shrug. The beast nodded. "That's probably the best for me. My home is across the sea, on the continent of Chaudre, but ShinRa will most likely be watching the most direct routes off the continent. Therefore I shall go with you in your search, for now."

"And how about you, Barret?" asked Tifa. The huge man raised his head, a look of turmoil on his face. "I…I dunno," he said quietly. "I swore to fight the ShinRa for what they did ta me, but now I couldn't get into Midgar without bein' turned in an' arrested in two seconds. And with all this shit about Sephiroth, I don't know who I oughta be fightin' anymore."

"Then come with us!" urged Tifa, taking his one good hand. "We're still AVALANCHE! We're still fighting for the Planet! But we have a bigger threat than Mako reactors now. Now we have an enemy who wants to destroy all humanity!"

"That's not strictly true, that you are fighting for the Planet," said Red XIII. Tifa turned to him somewhat angrily. "Begging your pardon, Miss, but fighting for humanity is not necessarily fighting for the Planet. Indeed, who is it that has been pillaging and ruining this Planet for their own good, but humans?" The humans in the party were forced to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth to this statement. "Might not Sephiroth actually be doing the Planet a favor by exterminating humans?"  
"Now jus' a damn minute…" said Barret, about to explode. Red XIII, witnessing this, quickly spoke. "Now I'm not saying that Sephiroth is moral, either. Slaughtering billions of innocent people is hardly an acceptable solution, and he should be condemned for seeking such a goal. But what he is doing may actually be for the good of the Planet."

Barret hesitated, torn by indecision, weighing the virtue of his race versus that of the Planet. "Fightin' the ShinRa was so easy…" he said slowly. "Always knew I was doin' the right thing, but now I ain't so sure. Mebee I should just hang around here."

"But Barret!" said Tifa. "If Sephiroth wins, none of us will be around to enjoy the Planet!"

Barret shook his head. "I dunno…" The rest sat patiently awaiting his response, but they didn't have to wait long. Barret soon stood, a fiery conviction on his face. "Even if what he's doin' is good for the Planet, he can't just kill everyone 'cause he was made in some test tube outta some headless freak!" declared Barret. "I'm here ta fight evil, wherever it is! An' ShinRa may be a buncha evil bastards, but at least they ain't goin' around killin' people left an' right! Sephiroth's tryin' to kill us all! If someone's gonna find the Promised Land, I wanna make damn sure it ain't him, ya know?"

"Beautiful, just beautiful," Cloud remarked. Barret, still fired up from his speech, turned a vicious gaze to the sarcastic mercenary.

"Alright! So we're all in!" declared Tifa joyously. Aeris beamed at all of them, especially at her bodyguard, who again couldn't withhold a smile. He had been willing to hunt down Sephiroth himself, but he was certainly glad to have the help, especially of one of the last remaining Ancients.

"But I still don' know what the hell's goin' on," said Barret. "I'm goin', goin', gone! Can't believe I'm sayin' this, but I'm leavin' the thinkin' ta you, spiky-ass."

"What's this?" Tifa said, mock shock upon her face. "Barret, surrendering authority to someone else?"

"Shut up!" Barret said, thoroughly embarrassed at his tough guy image being diminished in the least. "Never said I was givin' anyone authority, just that I'd let him figure out what's goin' on, 'cause I don' know where to start!"

"In that case," said Cloud, "I think we should all get some sleep."

"I hear that!" declared Barret.

"Even after your nice little nap during Cloud's story?" said Tifa innocently.

"No wonder you don't want to make decisions," said Aeris with a giggle. "You slept through all the explanation!"

"'Ey, I was tired!" said Barret defensively. "Just escaped from ShinRa and walked halfway 'cross the damn world!" Red XIII had a good laugh at this, Cloud a good smirk. "So my entire team's mockin' me. Fine, fo'get you all!" he said, turning away in a huff. Aeris ran up and playfully pounced on him, grabbing him around his massive neck, soon followed by Tifa, who latched on to his shoulder. "What the hell you idiots doin'?" demanded Barret gruffly, though the pleasure in his voice was evident.

"Oh, come on Barret!" said Aeris. "Most guys would love to have women all over them!" Red XIII laughed as Barret tried unsuccessfully to shake off the women clinging onto his backside, but Cloud frowned. They had just committed to challenging the mightiest warrior in the history of the Planet, yet here they were, joking around as if they hadn't a care in the world. Sephiroth already had a good head start on them, and with his stamina would be making very good time to wherever he was going. They had no notion of the long and hard journey ahead to catch him. And even if they find him, they would still have to defeat him. And even though they outnumbered him 5 to 1, Cloud still gave the victory to Sephiroth, easily. Yet like Tifa said, they could hardly just sit still while he searched for a way to destroy humanity. And ShinRa couldn't be counted on to apprehend him. They might send a few men out to search, but a full-scale manhunt would surely attract public attention to the fact that Sephiroth was, indeed, still alive, which would prove that they had been lying all along. And so catching the mass murderer was up to five randomly assembled vigilantes, with varying levels of commitment to the cause. Well, Cloud for one would never give up. He had challenged Sephiroth with no hope of winning before, and had survived. And he would do it again.

They slept late the next morning. Cloud allowed it, for he knew it was likely the last time they would have such a luxury. He himself was up earlier than the rest, for he knew there was much to be done before they left. He gathered up the clothes they had removed before going to bed and dropped them off at a dry cleaners near the inn. They would certainly need it after the running all the gunning they had been doing, not to mention the wading through sewers. As for himself, Cloud knew he would be needing a new outfit. Carrying his huge Buster Sword was bad enough: walking the city streets in a SOLDIER field uniform was just begging for ShinRa to notice. Heading over to a clothing store, he decided on a pair of black denim jeans and a matching black denim jacket, under which he would wear his uniform. He couldn't bear to part with it altogether. It was lightweight and flexible, yet provided good protection against projectile weaponry and some minor insulation against standard magical and energy attacks. But even more than practical concerns, he felt that the SOLDIER uniform was a part of him. He had, after all, spent many of his formative teenage years with SOLDIER, and was now loathe to part with the symbol of it. He donned his new black ensemble, and stripped off his uniform to drop at the cleaners, uncomfortable to part with it for even this long. He proceeded to a grocery store to purchase food, backpacks, canteens, and a large, long black leather bag to serve as a hopefully inconspicuous sheath for his sword. Weighed down by this substantial load, he returned to his room to deposit the supplies. Barret was still asleep, snoring loudly, but Red XIII was absent. Cloud dropped the supplies on his bed and walked out of the room, pondering if there was anything else he should buy while they were in town. To his surprise, he saw Aeris leaving the adjacent room. He had dropped her pink dress off to be cleaned, and so she was clad in a white bathrobe. Her damp chestnut hair was not tied, and Cloud was surprised to see just how long her hair really was, as it hung all the way down past her waist.

"Good morning, Cloud!" she said brightly.

"Hey," he replied.

"I see you're really getting into this biker stuff," she said with a smile.

"Huh?" he said clueless, before remembering that he was now clad entirely in black denim. "Oh, right. Well, I figured that walking around…" he said somewhat defensively.

"I'm just kidding!" Aeris said quickly, putting a hand on his arm. She sighed softly. "I'm so glad to be out of Midgar," she said happily. "I could hardly breathe in that dump. Couldn't hear the Planet at all."

"Can you hear it now?" Cloud asked. She concentrated for a moment.

"Not much," she confessed. "We're still close to Midgar, with all that noise and pollution. I think I'll have to get further away." He nodded, considering the conversation at an end. But after a moment, Aeris spoke again. "Cloud, what rank were you in SOLDIER?" she asked.

"By the time I quit, I was SOLDIER First Class," Cloud said proudly. "I could've gotten higher, but I started to see what Sephiroth meant about ShinRa's corruption. Plus it was kind of hard to stay with them after…"

"Of course," Aeris said consolingly. "First Class…the same as my first boyfriend," she said quietly. Cloud almost started at this. He hadn't known she had had a boyfriend. But of course, a girl this lovely was bound to have dated hundreds of men, especially after that scene at the Honeybee Inn. Her past was, of course, of no concern to him, but for some reason he felt the need to find out more about this. "So, were you guys…uh, serious?" he asked casually.

"Not really," she said. "We didn't have too much time. He left on a mission one day and never came back."

"I'm sorry," Cloud said immediately. She shook her head. "No, it's alright. It was a long time ago, I'm long over it." There was a somewhat awkward pause.

"What was his name?" said Cloud. "I probably knew him."

"No, it doesn't matter," said Aeris. "I'm sorry I brought it up." Cloud nodded, though they both felt something unfinished between them.

"So, what've you been up to this morning, aside from trying to be badder than Barret and stealing our clothes?"

Cloud couldn't help but laugh. His awareness of the gravity of their mission had not diminished since last night, but somehow Aeris' dynamism overpowered even the knowledge of their impossible quest. "I'm cleaning your clothes, just so you know. Unless you want to go around smelling like sweat and sewers, in which case I'm afraid you're getting left behind."

Aeris put a hand to her heart, her face filled with mock dismay. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you, Cloud?"

Cloud grinned, but suddenly a shadow passed over his face. "Of course I would," he said. "After all, you're almost human."

Aeris was about to laugh, but paused when she saw the deadly serious look on Cloud's face. "You…you're kidding, right?" she asked, forcing an uncertain smile upon her face.

Cloud shook his head derisively with a smirk. "Of course I am!" he said. "After all, I'm human too, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I was kind of confused," Aeris said, laughing the matter off in relief. "Anyway, I would appreciate my clothes back, bodyguard!" she said with a teasing smile. "Do you routinely steal your clients' clothing, or only ones as beautiful as myself?" she asked, tossing her long hair back. It was a joke, of course, but it combined with, it was true, natural beauty, were hard to resist. "But not for me," Cloud thought to himself. Nevertheless, he found himself giving her a genuine smile. She returned it brightly, her naturally glowing eyes staring into the artificial glow of his. He suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if those piercing, magnificent eyes could see right through his own eyes, into his inner mind. "No one's going there," he declared mentally, and abruptly turned away from her.

"Cloud? What's wrong?" Aeris asked worriedly.

"Nothing," he said coldly. "Look, I've got to finish buying supplies. I'll pick up your clothes on the way back."

"Um, okay," said Aeris waveringly, and Cloud promptly left down the stairs without a second look.

Cloud stormed out of the inn, irritated for some unknown reason, and almost plowed right into a woman passing by right outside. She gasped and stepped back as he recovered himself. "Sorry 'bout that," he muttered.

"Well, at least you're nicer than the other man in black who passed by here," remarked the woman.

"What was that?" Cloud said. "About some other man in black?"  
"Well, yes," said the woman, slightly confused about his interest. "Some man with long grey hair, dressed in a black overcoat and black cape passed through here a day or two ago, but he was very rude. Acted like he didn't even notice anyone."

"Sephiroth," thought Cloud with certainty, though he had evidently taken to wearing a cape now. "Which way did he go?" he asked.

"Well, I think he was heading east from Midgar," said the woman. "Why…"

"Thanks," Cloud said quickly and strode off. So now they had a destination: East. It made sense that Sephiroth would avoid heading West. All that lay to the West were a few port towns, all of which would probably have heavy ShinRa presence, as Red XIII had predicted. But if Sephiroth had passed through a day or two ago, with his physical ability he would likely already have a substantial lead. They had to get moving. Cloud hurried off into town to gather the rest of their supplies.

He returned with the clothes and some basic supplies no journeyer should be without, including rope, potions, knives, Phoenix Downs, and Ethers, which would focus one's thoughts more clearly, restoring his ability to use Materia. He distributed the rest of the supplies and the clothes to the party, which was now all awake. They soon gathered back in Barret's and Cloud's room, fully clothed.

"So, are we ready to hit the road?" asked Aeris excitedly.

"There's still the matter of money," said Cloud, turning a hard gaze to Barret.

"The hell you lookin' at me for?" demanded Barret.

"I never got my pay for the last reactor mission, and I just spent the last of my cash on supplies for all of us. I expect some compensation."

"You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!" said Barret, glaring down at him. "We're on a journey to save humanity, and you're askin' me about fuckin' money?"

"I believe we had a deal," said Cloud, ignoring the growing nervousness of the girls at the confrontation. "2500 gil. Pay up."

"Look, we're a team here!" said Barret. "We don' have time for greed or any o' this shit! You may have been a merc, but now you're a member of a team, and we work together! We share the cash, we share supplies, we work together! Ya got a problem with that?"

Cloud bristled, but had to concede the logic of his statement. They had no chance of success if each member was pursuing his own individual goals. They had to stick together and act for the benefit of the team.

"But I'll buy you a stick o' bubble gum if ya want," said Barret, smiling superiorly.

"Hey, what the…" Cloud started angrily.

"Boys…" Tifa warned.

"I don't have to take this shit!" declared Cloud furiously.

"Sure ya do," said Barret calmly. "'Cause I got the money, don't I?"

"You son-of-a…"

"BOYS!" screamed Tifa. She turned to Aeris tiredly. "Can you please give me a hand here?"

"Certainly, Miss Lockheart," Aeris said brightly. "Now Mr. Wallace, you're going to have to stop taunting Mr. Strife. He's rather like a little boy, in that he is utterly incapable of ignoring insults."

"What?!? Whose side are you on???" demanded Cloud furiously, while Barret burst into uproarious laughter.

"I don't know about that," said Tifa to Aeris, a wry smile upon her face. "Sometimes he's so sure of himself, that he's capable of not only ignoring insults, but ignoring people altogether."

"You too? What the hell?!?" Cloud exclaimed, while Barret collapsed onto the bed, utterly incapacitated by laughter. Aeris and Tifa just laughed, whispering to each other. "Fine! You all screw around all you want!" Cloud yelled. "We're getting out of here!" And with that he stormed out of the room. Barret, Tifa, and Aeris followed, still laughing at the easily manipulated mercenary. Red XIII just sat on his hind legs, staring after them silently. What had he gotten himself into?

Cloud paced impatiently on the outskirts of town, waiting for the others to join him. The scene had bothered him, for more reasons than just the taunting. Tifa, though she was joking, was more right than she realized. He was sometimes completely able to ignore insults, and he had done so with Barret countless times before. It was a necessary skill if one planned to talk to the man without blows being exchanged. So why had he, a twenty-one year old hardened soldier, let such juvenile taunts get to him so much? He was more secure with himself than that! He shook his head, determined to be stronger the next time. Finally, the rest of the team emerged, and he viciously whirled around to confront them.

"About damn time!" he spat, and their lingering grins disappeared, replaced by looks of confusion and concern. "Look, you want to screw around, fine, but do it on your own time! We're after the strongest man in the world, who already has a day's head start on us! And we can't rent a car or anything, because that would involve showing I.D., which is not a good thing with the world's controlling corporation on our asses. So we're pursuing a man who's faster than us, has a head start on us, and on the off chance that we somehow manage to catch him, he'll almost certainly kill us!" He suddenly broke off his tirade when he noticed the stunned looks his comrades were giving him, and felt a nagging guilt for speaking so harshly. "I'm…sorry," he muttered. "Dunno what came over me."

Aeris was the first to recover from this completely unexpected attack, and she approached Cloud. When he didn't shrink back or strike out at her, she timidly put an arm around his shoulder. Though his instinct was to shrug it off, in his current scattered state, Cloud let her remain. Neither spoke, but they stood there silently, Aeris comforting the man who had so viciously reproached her moments earlier. After a while, she turned to the others. "Are we ready to go?" she asked them quietly. They nodded in unison. Cloud raised his head at last. "We head East," he said simply, and started walking towards the still rising sun.

Tifa frowned tearfully at Cloud, disturbed by what she had witnessed. The Cloud she remembered never would have allowed himself to so vindictively assault his own friends. Certainly people changed, but she hardly knew him anymore. Was this truly the Cloud she had once known, from those innocent days in Nibelheim? Just how much had the horrific experience of five years ago affected him? Her heart went out to him, but she could not approach him. She simply couldn't bring herself to ask him such a thing. She knew he would just shrug off the question as irrelevant emotional garbage. But it was so relevant, she knew. Who was this man with spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes who led them on a hopeless quest to battle a madman?

Barret smirked to himself. He couldn't see what the two girls saw in such a whacked-out excuse for a man as Cloud, but there he was, leading them off into the grasslands to the east. How could they ever follow him? They would need a real leader, someone with actual leadership experience. And he, the leader of AVALANCHE, fit the role perfectly. AVALANCHE…it had been created to fight ShinRa, and here he was, abandoning the fight to go on a wild goose chase for some psycho swordsman, the same swordsman, in fact, who had freed them from ShinRa in the first place.

"But he's evil," Barret reminded himself, "an' he wants ta kill all o' us!" So was that it? Had his epic quest for the Planet been reduced to a mere struggle for self-survival? Where was the good in that?

But he would return. He turned back to Midgar, the high-rising towers still visible on the horizon to the west, and shook his fist in rage at the haven of the corruption that was ShinRa. He would return. He would not rest until ShinRa was completely and utterly destroyed. He would finish this business about Sephiroth, and then he would come back to Midgar, and make ShinRa pay for what they had done to him.

Aeris walked heavily at first, heart troubled by Cloud's reproach, but her step soon lightened, and in no time at all she was nearly skipping through the grass. Her joy at finally being in nature was inexpressible, just has it had been when they had first left Midgar. She was finally leaving that rotting cesspool behind, and was returning to her true environment. She inhaled deeply, reveling in the unsullied odor of fresh vegetation, an odor to which she was totally unaccustomed, and which nevertheless was second nature to her. It reminded her of far-away times, when the Planet knew nothing of Midgar, or even of humans. It was just her people, the beasts, and the ever-so-beautiful trees and flowers. She sighed happily before allowing herself to be dragged back to the present day. But even with all the evil that had been brought into the world since that idyllic past, she still was not saddened. Here she was, with her new friends, on an epic quest to save the people of the Planet and the Promised Land from an evil villain. Barret, the vengeful but ethical warrior, Tifa, the gentle-hearted barmaid, Red XIII, her enigmatic and unusually wise fellow test subject, and Cloud, about whom her infallible intuition had told her. She grinned joyously. The future seemed brighter than ever.

_It's about bloody time_

What do you mean?

_I thought you would never get them going_

Yeah, me either

_So what do you plan to do?_

Easy. We catch Sephiroth

_And then?___

Then…we kill him

_You think you five can kill Sephiroth?_

No

_Then why are you here?_

I have to try. I can never forgive him

_Of course not_

Yeah…who are you?

_You still don't know?_

How can I know? You never tell me anything, you only ask questions!

_I suppose so. But rest assured, there will be a time when all is made clear to you, when your true purpose is revealed_

My true purpose?

_Just continue on your way…_


	23. Priorities

Priorities

"Let's take a break," said Cloud, dropping his pack and sinking down to the ground at the base of a tall, grassy hill. The rest of the party gladly followed suit. They sat in silence for a few moments, resting from the day's long march, before Red XIII padded over to Cloud across the soft grass.

"Do you really think we should be stopping again?" asked the beast quietly. "This is our fourth break today, and our pace isn't very fast to begin with. How do you expect to catch Sephiroth at this…"

"What do you want me to do?" hissed Cloud back. "The two of us may be alright, but look at them!" he said, gesturing subtly back to their fellow hikers behind. Tifa was wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. Her breathing was labored, but she could at least keep a good pace. Barret was faring worse, cursing between heavy breaths. As Cloud had noted earlier, the heavy man was not made for long distance travel. But Barret was strong and stubborn, not to mention that each of his strides counted for about two of theirs. The real problem was Aeris. Cloud and Red XIII looked as she lay on her back, panting. "She was exhausted in the middle of the first day, and it's only gotten worse since then! She's not the type to complain, but she's suffering," whispered Cloud. "If we went much harder, she'd just die back there, and we wouldn't even know until we looked back and saw she was gone!"

"Indeed…" murmured Red XIII. "Well, then it seems you are at a crossroads."

"What do you mean?" demanded Cloud, afraid he already knew the answer.

"You know as well as I that you stand no chance of catching Sephiroth at this pace, which you have chosen for the benefit of one member of our party. Your goal of keeping Aeris comfortable and alive conflicts with your goal of catching Sephiroth. You must choose between the two. You must forsake either Sephiroth or Aeris."

Cloud sighed. "I know. And I suppose you also know which one I have to choose, right?"

"I believe so," said Red XIII, gazing back at Aeris somewhat sadly.

  
They rested for a half-hour, and just as the Sun began to sink below the tall hill before them, Cloud stood and declared that they should begin again for the last stretch of the day's journey. There was a general moan from his companions, but they complied, gathering their belongings and climbing to their feet. Cloud couldn't help but notice that Aeris, especially, seemed somewhat slow in rising, and rather unsteady even when she was up. Her usually beautiful hair was matted and still damp with sweat and, though she kept her head down to avoid revealing it to anyone, her face was etched with the pain of constant exertion. Cloud tried hard to ignore this sight as he turned his back and started up the hill. Restless, he jogged all the way up to the apex to gain a view of the terrain before them. As he reached the top, he gazed out at the horizon, and his eyes widened in surprise. Right before him, not more than two miles away from the base of the hill, was a simple farm. Large tilled fields, presumably of fruits and vegetables, surrounded a barn, small cottage, and several other small structures. Cloud laughed softly to himself as he waited for the rest of his crew to join him atop the hill. Red XIII, of course, was the first, and he stared at the not-so-distant farm, as usual, without comment. Tifa and Barret were next, and Cloud was able to observe surprise on their faces as they looked out at the dwellings.

"The hell…?" muttered Barret. "Thought all the little farms like that died out after ShinRa started to centralize food production in big factories an' shit."

"Apparently not all of them disappeared," said Tifa, brushing a lock of dark brown hair aside from her eyes. They waited in silence for the last member of their party to arrive. Finally, Aeris emerged from behind the hill, already breathing heavily again. She smiled broadly as she caught sight of the farm, but was apparently too winded to comment.

"We'll hike until that farm, then we'll ask whoever lives there if we can stay for the night," said Cloud. "It'll be nice to sleep under a roof again." Without another word he set out again, down the other side of the hill, making straight for the innocent-looking farm.

The Sun was nearly gone by the time they reached the outskirts of the fields, casting a crimson glow over the green stalks of unidentified plants that lay before them. "Just a little further," Cloud said, for Aeris' benefit more than anyone's, as he carefully tread across the field, trying not to crush any plants underfoot.

"So these people just live here and grow all their own food?" asked Aeris in wonder.

"I…guess so," said Tifa, somewhat confused at such an obvious question.

"That's wonderful!" said Aeris from the back of the group. "To live out here in nature, miles and miles away from any civilization, and just…be. Just think of it!"

Cloud smiled. Naturally, the Ancient among them would be taken with such a lifestyle allowing her to be so close to the Planet.

He soon emerged into the middle of the complex of wooden buildings. This area was not dirt, as were the fields, but was filled with tall grass, swaying gently about their ankles in a gentle breeze. "Beautiful…" murmured Aeris. In the center, he was further surprised to see a large fence, surrounding…

"Chocobos!" shrieked Aeris with glee. She ran from behind them towards the flightless yellow birds, who were wandering idly around their pen. One of them nearest the fence cocked its head curiously as she approached. "Wark?" said the chocobo. Without hesitation, Aeris reached forward and petted the chocobo on its head. The bird lifted its head slightly, warbling softly with pleasure.

"Lookit that," said Barret warmly.

"Chocobos are typically flighty creatures, scared of strangers," said Red XIII bemusedly.

"How do you do that?" asked Cloud.

"Guess I just have a way with animals," said Aeris. She giggled as she tussled the bird's feathers, and it playfully nipped at the offending hand with its beak. "C'mon, let's go talk to the farmer!" she said, as she bid the chocobo farewell and made for the nearby cottage. The chocobo warked its own goodbye before returning to nibbling at the grass at its feet. "I wish I'd been able to live in a place like this," she said as she walked. Cloud stared after Aeris in silence for a second before following.

  
They swung open the worn wooden door and stepped inside. They found themselves in a cozy living room with several pieces of weathered but inviting furniture surrounding a small fire in a fireplace. An old man, dressed in simple farmers clothes sat in the largest chair, watching them enter. He looked, like the rest of the room, old and weathered, but nevertheless strong and durable. "Well hello there! Ain't often we get visitors way out here!" said the man, slowly rising to his feet to greet them. "The name's Bill, and this here's my farm." Aeris led the way in introductions. The farmer eyed Red XIII somewhat warily when he spoke to introduce himself, but said nothing.

"So what brings you folks here, anyway?" asked Bill.

"We're just stopping by on our way east, if it's all right," said Aeris.

"All right? Course it's all right!" said the farmer, grinning broadly as he vigorously shook her hand. "Sit down, sit down, stay awhile!" The tired party gladly complied, Red XIII curling up on the floor as his companions chose chairs or sofas. The farmer eyed Red XIII somewhat warily, but said nothing. "So, what can I do for you? You folks hungry? I could have the missus scratch up something real quick if you like!"

"No, we wouldn't want to impose," said Tifa quickly, but not quickly enough. The old farmer was already yelling. "Hey, Estelle! We got visitors!"  
"Visitors? Fancy that!" said a voice from another room. A woman appearing every inch a match for her husband appeared, and the introductions began anew.

"Now get back in there and fix these fine young people some dinner!" said Bill. "And fix me some too!"

"Dinner? But you just ate! I just finished cleaning up…"

"Woman, now!" exclaimed Bill. Estelle complied, but not before shooting her husband a look that indicated that this argument wasn't over. "So anyway, what can I do for you folks?"

"I don't suppose you would know if a black-caped man has passed by here recently, heading East?" asked Red XIII.

"Eh? No, you all are the only passers-by in months," replied Bill thoughtfully. "Although I did hear some strange stuff coming from the marshes."

"The marshes?" said Cloud.

"Yeah, the marshes away down south, right in front of the Mythril Mines," said Bill. "You heard about the Midgar Zolom?"

"The Midgar Zolom…" said Red XIII thoughtfully.

"It's a huge serpent, over thirty feet long!" exclaimed the farmer. "Lives down there in the marshes, and attacks anything unfortunate enough to wander in there! So a few days back, I hear some huge explosion or something from down there in the marshes! Figured some army got stuck in there and tried to fight it out with the Zolom!"

"Not an army," said Cloud grimly. "One man."  
"One man?" said Bill incredulously. "You're telling me that all that racket, those explosions and all came from one man???" Cloud just nodded. "Well, whatever you say. All I know is that someone must've wandered in there and had to pull out all the stops in the fight."

Cloud pondered this news. Sephiroth would certainly be capable of such powerful magic. Could it be that he had ventured into the marshes, only to find the Midgar Zolom more than he had bargained for? He certainly would never resort to magic unless in dire straits. So could Sephiroth possibly…be already dead? As he looked around, he could see Barret, Tifa, and Aeris with similar hope in their eyes, and Red XIII, who was unreadable.

"We would like to head over and check it out," said Cloud. "Is there any way we can cross the marshes without being attacked?"

"Sure there is," said Bill. "You've gotta have a chocobo. Chocobo can just run right across the marsh before the Zolom even knows it's there."

Cloud nodded. "So can we buy some chocobos from you?"

"Oh no no no no no," said Bill, shaking his head. "Those chocobos out there are ours. They aren't for sale."

"So…how do we get a chocobo then?" asked Aeris.

"You've got to catch one yourself, of course!" said Bill, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Catch our own damn bird?" said Barret. "How the hell we s'posed to do that?"

"Easy. That is, if you have the right Materia," said Bill.

"Materia?" said Red XIII, clearly surprised that such a backwoods man would not only know about Materia, but would be able to use it.

"That's right," said Bill with a grin. "Course you can do it without, but it takes years of training and practice and all, and I'm guessing you all are in a bit more of a hurry than that."

"Damn straight," muttered Barret.

"What Materia do we need?" asked Aeris.

"Called an Animal Empathy Materia," said Bill. "Lets you get on the good side of all sorts of critters. Not ravenous wolves or anything, the animal's gotta be pretty gentle to begin with. But if you can find a chocobo, and you use this Materia, he should be yours for however long you want him."

"Sounds like a good deal," said Cloud. "So, I suppose you'd be willing to sell us one of these Materia?"

"Eh, I'm too old to handle business and all that," said Bill with a laugh. "You'd need to go talk to my grandson, Billy. But not now – dinner's ready!"

  
The meal was plain and simple, unseasoned steak and potatoes, but very good, especially compared to their trail food of the last few days. Tifa, Barret, and Aeris talked animatedly with Bill, while Red XIII ate in silence. Cloud, too, did not participate in the conversation, his mind preoccupied with his impossible decision. He kept glancing at Aeris throughout the meal. She was positively beaming. The withdrawal from the city was obviously working wonders on her psyche. Even with her fatigue, Cloud had hardly seen her looking better. "'I wish I'd been able to live in a place like this…'" So was that the answer, then? It seemed so wrong, and yet it was the only way. Wasn't it? He shook his head. She had caused him nothing but confusion and strife, and now he couldn't even get rid of her. No, he could get rid of her, and he would.

"Cloud? Are you okay?" Cloud's head shot up. Aeris was gazing at him from across the table, head cocked cutely.

"Dammit, why do you have to do things like that???" demanded Cloud. "You are not making this easy!" It took a second before he realized that he had spoken out loud. "Sorry…" he muttered, looking down. The table was silent for a moment before Bill loudly launched into a complaint about the recent weather, and the group slowly returned to conversation. Cloud, however, sunk back into his reverie, pondering the past and future.

  
After dinner, Bill sent the group off to the barn, where they would find quarters for the night, as well as his grandson, Billy. Cloud followed rather than led, mind still preoccupied. Before he next looked up, they were in a spacious barn of two stories, each of which was covered with hay. A small brown-haired boy and girl walked around, tending to the animals in the pens on the first floor. "Who're you?" asked the boy without preamble.

"Visitors," said Aeris. "Your grandfather is letting us stay here for the night."

"In the barn?" asked Billy. "Eh, guess you'll be up in the loft there," he said, gesturing with a dirty finger to the upper level of the barn, thankfully devoid of animals.

"There's…something else," said Tifa. "Your grandfather mentioned something about a Materia?"

"Ah, now you're speaking my language!" said Billy with a gleam in his eye. He instantly withdrew a purple gem from his pocket. "Animal Empathy Materia. Guess you all need a chocobo?"

"That's right," said Aeris. "So, how much for the Materia?"

"Hmm…that's tough…" said Billy, with exaggerated deliberation. "These things are pretty rare, you know? But I guess we could let one go for, say, 10,000 Gil?"

"10,000 Gil??? You crazy?!?" exclaimed Barret.

"Nope. Just a businessman. Well, lemme know if anything changes," said Billy with a dark grin as he whistled to the girl and left the barn. Barret cursed violently as the girl neared them.

"I'm sorry about my brother," said the girl. "He's such an idiot. Always wants to be some big-time dealer in Midgar, but this is as close as he can get."

"I don't suppose you could get us a Materia for a little less then that?" said Aeris hopefully. The girl smiled sympathetically, but shook her head.

"Sorry, but Billy keeps all of them. I wouldn't even know where to look for them." Their spirits sank instantly. The girl smiled at them once again before leaving.

"Shit," said Cloud.

"That 'bout says it," said Barret. "Ain't no way we're gettin' cross that swamp now. Unless…ya think that old man was puttin' us on 'bout that big snake?"

"No," said Cloud with certainty. "I've heard about the Midgar Zolom as well. It's about as bad as he described."

"Well, now what?" said Tifa.

"I guess we're stuck for now," said Cloud with a shrug. "We'll set out tomorrow and look over the marsh, and see if we can come up with anything. But for now let's get some sleep." The four of them nodded and slowly filed up the stairs to the loft, clearly uneasy about the future. Cloud had always figured their journey would end in failure, but he had at least expected to die in combat with Sephiroth, not get stuck in some backwoods farm after four days. Not that it mattered in the end. At least this way they wouldn't die. And with that grim reassurance, Cloud settled down on a nearby pallet of straw to try and sleep. He soon heard snores from his teammates, but he himself couldn't sleep. No matter how much he tried to ignore it, the matter with Aeris refused to leave his mind. "Why the hell can't I just…"

"What's wrong, Cloud?" Cloud instantly sat up to face Aeris, who was staring at him from her adjacent sleeping place.

"Do you regularly observe all the rest of us in our sleep?" Cloud said irritably.

"No," said Aeris coolly. "But I can tell when something's wrong. And you're worried about something."

"Got that right," said Cloud quietly. Then he decided; he needed to get this off his chest. He would do it tonight. "Can you come outside with me for a minute?"

She smiled prettily. "Sure."

"Dammit, why must you do that???" Cloud demanded, internally this time. "Why can't you be bitchy, or whiny, or ugly, or something that would make this easier?" But she was none of these things. She was a quite endearing personality, and it simply wasn't fair. He was getting way too attached to her to be having this much trouble. "Well, won't be any trouble at all after tonight," Cloud thought as he rose and descended the stairs and left the barn, Aeris behind him. A cool night had fallen, a soft breeze teasing Aeris' hair as she closed the large barn doors behind her. "What is it, Cloud?" she asked, emerald eyes beaming up at him through her waving strands of hair. "Damn, damn damn!" thought Cloud, wrenching his eyes away from that enigmatic, beautiful face, before starting.

"I've been keeping an eye on you while we've traveled."

"And?" Aeris said, confused.

"I've seen that you've been having trouble out there."

"Well, I've been an unwilling city girl all my life. I've hardly had any opportunity to build up endurance for all-day hikes, right?"

"Well, the point is…" Cloud hesitated. "Just spit it out," he told himself, but this was much easier thought than said. He took a deep breath. "The point is, I think you should stay here."

Aeris just stared, a look of confusion on her face. "You mean…not go with you?" Cloud nodded. Her confusion vanished, to be replaced by a series of different emotions. She finally settled on one of sorrow. "So…okay…" she said quietly. Cloud felt a strange, and entirely unpleasant tug at his heart seeing her like this. Why couldn't she just get angry, like a normal person? That would surely be easier to bear then this quiet, tragic resignation. He knew that he couldn't just leave it like this. "You can stay here. You said yourself how much you like it here." Cloud waited for an affirmation of this fact, but Aeris just nodded dumbly, looking down. "And ShinRa will never find you out here. It's for the best…"

"What???" Aeris exclaimed, and Cloud was surprised to see, for the first time, anger contorting her delicate features. "It's for the best?!"

"Well, yes…"

"I am sick and tired of people trying to tell me what's good for me!" Aeris snapped. "I'm a big girl, Cloud! I'm quite able to decide what's good for me or not! I don't need you trying to be my father, especially when you're a year _younger_ than me!" Cloud was surprised to find that, for the first time, he felt no urge to retaliate against charges levied against him. Rather, he stood silently, feeling, of all things, guilty.

"But you'll be safer here, and you can't stay with us…" stuttered Cloud. He instantly regretted it.

"Oh? And why can't I stay with you?" asked Aeris sharply.

"Because…"

"Spit it out, Cloud!"

"Because we'll never catch Sephiroth at this rate…" Cloud muttered. Aeris laughed bitterly.

"So here it is at last!" she exclaimed, raising her arms to the sky in an expression of mock exuberance. "Aeris, it's too dangerous. Aeris, your mother wants you. Aeris, I don't want you getting involved. And finally, the truth comes out. Aeris, you're too slow. Aeris you're cramping my style. Aeris, you…"

"It's nothing personal, Aeris!" Cloud said, desperate to stop this.

"Well, a girl can only be rejected so many times before she starts to take it personally, Cloud!" said Aeris. Cloud reached a hand out to her, but she slapped it away and turned her back. Cloud stared helplessly, hating himself for causing this. "Why does it have to be this way?" he asked himself.

_It doesn't have to. Just let her go. Easy as that._

I can't just let her go like this!

_That's exactly what she wants you to think. You realize what she's doing, don't you? _

What?

_She's brainwashing you._

What the hell are you talking about?

_She isn't presenting a rational argument on why she should be able to stay. Instead, she's just manipulating your emotions, trying to make you take the course you know is wrong._

But I don't know it's wrong!

_Of course you do. You know Sephiroth has to be found._

But why must I be the one to do it?

_That I won't explain. But you know as well as I do why it has to be you._

Yeah…

_And you know that you can't catch him as long as she's with you._

Yeah.

_So there's only one solution, isn't there?_

Is there? I don't know.

_Don't be foolish._

Who are you to tell me what's right? You won't even tell me who the hell you are!

_You know exactly who I am. And you know that you must obey me._

Yeah? Well, fuck you! I obey no one but myself!

_That is an illusion, and you know it._

You're just a disembodied voice in my head! Who the hell are you to lecture me on what's real?

_You're evading the issue. Inevitable, I suppose. Your illusions will be dispelled when the time comes._

What time? Why do you always speak in riddles?

_Because you can't know the truth.___

Why the hell not?

_Because it would drive you insane.___

  
"Cloud! Please wake up!"

Cloud's eyes snapped open. Aeris was bending over him as he lay on the ground, the rage in her face replaced with concern. As his eyes opened, she leaned back, letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the Planet!" she said. "I didn't know what happened to you!"

"I thought you were mad…" said Cloud, trying to regain his wits.

"Well I don't want you to die, you idiot!" said Aeris. She shook her head, looking down for a moment. "Cloud, I'm…"

"No," said Cloud, sensing she was about to apologize. "I'm sorry."

"But I was the one who got mad at you for just trying to do your job as leader."

"I'm no leader," said Cloud. "I'm just leader by default because I'm the only one who really knows what's going on here." "If I even do know…" he thought, remembering his inner dialogue.

"I think there's more to it than that," said Aeris. Cloud shrugged. "Either way, I don't have the right to kick anyone out of the group. We're all here because we care about preventing the deaths of innocents, and I shouldn't prevent you from working towards that."

"You mean that?" asked Aeris softly. He nodded. Her face broke into a wide grin, and she leapt forward and hugged him tightly. Cloud was somewhat startled, and before he could remember to stop himself, he found himself hugging her back.

"Please, let's never go through that again," said Aeris into his shoulder.

"Never again," said Cloud. She looked up at him. Tears sparkled in her emerald eyes, making them shine even more than usual. She leaned forward slightly, as if about to whisper or do something, but shook her head and backed off away from him.

"So…" she said.

"Quite a day," said Cloud.

"Quite," Aeris agreed. "And quite a day deserves quite a night."

Cloud stared at her. What exactly was that supposed to mean? She noticed his look, and with a mock expression of shock on her face, slapped him playfully. "I meant that we need some sleep! That's horrible!" she said before turning around and swinging open the barn door to enter. Cloud promptly followed, more exhausted by the events of the last ten minutes than by the hiking of the past four days. He looked forward to a deep, dreamless sleep in which he   
wouldn't have to worry about these see-sawing emotions.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Hey, I'm not dead! But I am on summer vacation, when I can get, if humanly possible, even lazier. So this is the first update in however long. I've been working this chapter out in my head at my lovely little manual labor job all summer long, and this is what eventually came out. I really meant to back off on Aeris for a while, but I got the idea for having Cloud consider dumping her because of her weakness, and not only included it, but made it the focus of the chapter. I just write what comes to mind. Very little revision and such before I post. I'm just CRAZY like that! Tell me how ya like it, if you all haven't forgotten about me during my little hiatus.


	24. The Mythril Mines

The Mythril Mines

"Hey, Cloud! Wake up!"

"Déjà vu," thought Cloud sleepily as he blearily peered up at Aeris' face, hovering above him as it had the night before after his talk with the voice. "What?"

"I've got something to show you. Come on!" she said excitedly, attempting in vain to pull him up by his arm. Wrenching free of her grasp, he started to gather up his equipment before noticing that everyone else was gone. He questioned Aeris about this. "Well, you're the last one up," she said with a shrug. That was strange: with the occasional exception of Red XIII, he was always the first up among them, having been trained to get by on little sleep. Apparently the emotional roller coaster of the night before had taken more of a toll on him than he had realized. He reminded himself not to get into situations like that again. Still squinting, Cloud followed Aeris down the stairs and out of the barn, around to the back. There he saw Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII waiting for them, but his eyes were more drawn to the new arrivals. Standing with them were two bright yellow chocobos, all saddled up and ready to ride. They cocked their heads at Cloud and warked curiously. "It's okay, he's with me," said Aeris, walking up to them and gently stroking them each in turn. "So? What do you think?" she said, turning back to Cloud with a smile upon her face.

"You…convinced him to sell the Materia for less?" said Cloud slowly, struggling to assimilate this.

"Didn' need no piece o' shit 10,000 gil Materia! This girl's got 'nuff skill with animals for 10 damn Materia!" said Barret happily, clapping Aeris on the shoulder and causing her to stagger under the force.

"So, you caught these yourself?" said Cloud. Aeris nodded. "That's amazing…chocobos are notoriously afraid of strangers."

"What can I say? I'm amazing," said Aeris jokingly. "You must admit that this is a nice little solution to the problem you mentioned last night."

Cloud was momentarily confused. The chocobos had always been intended to cross the swamp. Was that the problem she meant? No…of course! This would also solve the problem with Aeris! She wouldn't get anywhere near so tired on a chocobo as on foot! He looked to her and nodded.

"Well, now that you're finally up, Cloud, I think we're ready to go," said Tifa quickly. "Shall we saddle up?" He nodded, walking over to the nearest chocobo and deftly mounting it. "Tifa and Aeris, you're with me. Barret and Red XIII, take that one."

"So now you're the ladies man, eh?" said Barret. Cloud ignored him. Tifa and Aeris both tried to mount the chocobo simultaneously, bashing heads with a crack. Cloud snorted with laughter. Tifa backed off slightly and Aeris promptly hopped up and scooted up behind Cloud. He heard Tifa make some unidentifiable sound before leaping up and joining them.

"'Ey! You all ready yet?" said Barret, holding the reins of his own chocobo with the four-legged Red XIII awkwardly positioned behind him. Cloud glanced behind at the girls, then nodded. "A'ight! Let's go!" said Barret.

Nothing happened.

"Um…how do ya make the thing go?" said Barret. The rest of them immediately burst into laughter. "Ey', I ain't never rode one o' these damn things before!"

Still snickering, Cloud grabbed the reins to his steed. "Yah!" he yelled as he whipped the reins, and the chocobo took off. Aeris, gasping somewhat, promptly grabbed Cloud tightly around the waste to hold on. He could hear Barret's own yell, and soon the quick patter of feet as they caught up.

"We shouldn't ride the whole way," called Cloud as Barret's chocobo came within hearing range.

"What? Why the hell not?" said Barret. "This beats walking by a long shot!"

"We're not gonna be able to keep these things forever," replied Cloud. "So we'd better go ahead and get used to walking. We'll alternate between riding and walking so we'll train ourselves without working to exhaustion." Cloud felt his waist being squeezed, and he glanced behind him to see Aeris beaming at him. She obviously knew why he made this announcement.

"Shit! Whatever, man," said Barret. "But we're sure as Hell riding now!" There were no arguments.

Even with the spells of walking inserting between rides, they made excellent time. In just two days, they found themselves leading their chocobos up a hill only to see the beginning of a green morass a distance away, below them. Beyond the marsh was a small, unremarkable range of bare mountains.

"There are the marshes," said Cloud. "We'd better ride from here on out." There were, once again, no complaints. The chocobos certainly made things much easier, especially on Aeris, but cross-country journeying was tiring no matter what the method. They mounted their steeds and rode off down the hill. The unmistakable odor of marshland soon rose to greet them. Cloud would be glad to be rid of this place. That is, if the chocobos did as the old man had promised, and indeed did get them past the Midgar Zolom. He pushed his doubts out of his mind, and tried to do the same with his sense of smell as his chocobo approached the outskirts of the swamp. He waited a moment for Barret's to catch up, then turned to face his comrades. He could tell by their hesitant expressions that they were feeling similar nervousness about crossing the realm of an unstoppable monster. "We go full throttle all the way through," said Cloud.

"But how?" said Tifa from behind him. "This place is a marsh, after all. We can't just walk anywhere! We'll sink right in."

Cloud paused. He hadn't thought of that, but of course she was right. "The chocobos should know the way," he said after a while. "The farmer said they could get us across no problem, so surely they must know what they're doing."

"I just hope ya know what you're doing," said Barret. "But if we're goin', then let's go! Don' like just standin' around here and talkin' 'till that snake hears us."

Cloud nodded. "Follow me," he said to Barret, and with that, snapped his chocobos reins and took off into the swamp. He tried not to look too nervous as he surveyed the area, looking for any signs of movement under the green water. But aside from the disturbance caused by his chocobo's strides, all was completely still. Aeris and Tifa stirred anxiously behind him, and Cloud felt the grip around his waist tighten. They were all tensed, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation, and yet if the Zolom did emerge, Cloud knew that there would be nothing they could do. They would already be dead.

But the Zolom never did emerge. Ten minutes later saw the two chocobos and their riders safely across the marsh, on solid ground once more.

"Rather anticlimactic," remarked Red XIII, as they rode into a small grove of trees. Cloud cocked an eyebrow as he gazed at the tallest tree, at the far end of the grove. It had been shorn totally free of limbs and leaves, and sharpened to a point at the top, like the javelin of a giant protruding up from the ground. As he rode, he silently racked his brain for any possible natural occurrence which could cause such a phenomenon, only to gape in horror as his chocobo reared to a halt. They had found the Midgar Zolom.

They stared speechlessly up at the enormous serpent, towering high above them. It returned the stare with a cold, lifeless eye as it sat atop the tree. It had been impaled upon the makeshift spike, wound around the tree so it could be impaled in three places: its tail, its midsection, and its head, the tree thrust through the bottom of the creature's jaw. The snake's acrid blood had dripped all over from its multiple wounds, staining the surrounding ground in a huge puddle of smelling foulness.

It was Cloud who finally broke the silence, with but a single word: "Sephiroth."

"Our enemy is someone who can do this?" said Aeris quietly.

"Ain't no way, man…" said Barret. "No way one man could kill that thing, much less drag it all the way out here and shove it on that tree.

"It was him, alright," said Cloud grimly as he dismounted his chocobo and walked nearer to the enormous corpse, heedless of the stench. "See that hole in the forehead, right between the eyes?"

"Yeah, looks like an expert's shot," said Barret, eying the hole, from which ran a dried stream of blood.

"Not a shot," said Cloud. "A stab. I recognize this mark. It's the Masamune, Sephiroth's sword. Just his style, too. He didn't fight sloppily or dismember his foe, just killed it with a few well-placed strikes."

"But afterward he made it into a gruesome trophy," said Aeris. "It wouldn't be his style to show off like this, would it?"

Cloud pondered, frowning. "No, it wouldn't," he admitted. "I dunno. I guess he's just changed since when I knew him."

"I'll say," said Tifa, who still remembered the grisly scene Sephiroth had created back at the ShinRa HQ all too well.

"But what about the explosion that the farmer mentioned?" said Aeris. "If Sephiroth didn't use magic to defeat the Zolom, then what caused that?"

"The Zolom did," said Red XIII. They turned to face him. "I, too, have heard mention of the Midgar Zolom," he said in explanation. "Supposedly it is the last descendant of a race of mighty serpents, since hunted to near-extinction by fearful humans. These serpents were rumored to be not only extremely powerful physically, but also to have the power of nuclear fission at their command."

"Nuclear fission?" said Cloud, astonished. ShinRa had been rumored to be working to develop a weapon utilizing nuclear fission, but to his knowledge the project had never been completed, attention and funding instead transferred to Mako sciences. But if its proponents were correct, the weapon, if it had been completed, would have had extraordinary destructive power, well over a hundred times more than standard dynamite.

"So Sephiroth survived an attack like that?" said Tifa, astonished. Red XIII just nodded.

"We don' stand a chance, do we?" said Barret.

"No talking like that. C'mon, let's get going," Cloud said curtly, and urged his chocobo forward, leaving the slain beast behind, though it remained in his mind's eye as a grisly omen, a reminder of the truth of Barret's words. They were soon through the grove, and confronted with a rock wall: the side of one of the mountains. Cloud was afraid that they had reached a dead end when his sharp eyes glimpsed a small opening in the mountain. He rode over to it, and saw that it was in fact the mouth of a tunnel that led deep into the caves. "Bingo," he thought.

"The Mythril Mines," read Aeris, from a wooden sign posted near the entrance. "I heard about this place back in Kalm. Apparently it's a pretty big establishment, but it's closed down temporarily. Not sure why." Cloud nodded. "Alright, let's go," he said, and rode into the darkness.

While it was certainly dark compared to the daylight, the tunnel was nowhere near the blackness of the Mt. Nibel caves of which it reminded him. This tunnel had lamps mounted on the wall, which cast a warm glow on the cave walls. The light from the lamps, in turn, was reflected from a metal in the walls, which shone brilliantly. Mythril was a valuable metal, which had had a heyday back in the Middle Ages, when it was prized by weapon and armor makers for its great strength and lightness. While melee weaponry was no longer a great concern, mythril's value diminshed, but it was still sought after for use in jewelry, due to its brilliant beauty. This brilliance now helped to light their way as they made their way through the winding tunnels, deep into the mountain ranges. A series of smaller passages branched off from the main tunnel, but Cloud figured that the largest tunnel would be their best bet for making their way all the way through to the other side of the mountains. They traveled in silence, mostly due to their observing the beautiful reserves of mythril ore all around, but Cloud was focused not on the sights, but the sounds, or rather the lack of them. Why had ShinRa ordered all the miners out? For the only person with the authority to close down this mine would be someone high up in ShinRa, since the company all but owned Kalm, along with just about everything else in the world. Was ShinRa trying to protect the workers, knowing that Sephiroth was coming this way? He had never known ShinRa to be particularly humanitarian. What, then? Were they trying to hide something? He hadn't seen anything particularly unusual so far. So what was going on?

They had traveled for an indeterminable period of time when the two chocobos suddenly halted, refusing to go another step.

"'Ey! C'mon!" said Barret, but the chocobos stood stock still, staring ahead nervously.

"Unpack our things," said Cloud. "We'll go on foot from here."

"Why won't they go any further?" said Tifa, as she dismounted and gathered her gear which had been strapped onto the chocobo.

"They're afraid," said Aeris, patting hers on the head. Even this seemed to have little effect on the chocobo, which just kept staring ahead, starting to tremble.

"'Fraid of what?" said Barret.

"I guess we're about to find out," replied Cloud. "Come on." They followed him around a bend to be blinded by a dazzling light. Shading his eyes and squinting, Cloud could eventually discern that the light nothing more than daylight, streaming through the cave's mouth. The exit to the cave was on a path above them. "It's the exit," said Cloud as he started to climb the short rock wall to the upper ledge. But just as he climbed up to the ledge, the light was all but blocked by a large figure. For a split second, Cloud thought it was Sephiroth, having his same size and shape. But somehow he knew it wasn't. Not only that this figure lacked Sephiroth's flowing hair, but Cloud knew that if Sephiroth were near, he would somehow feel it. As he stared at the figure, his eyes continued to adjust to the light, to reveal…

"Oh shit," muttered Cloud as the rest of the team joined him on the upper path.

"What is it, Cloud?" said Red XIII.

"The Turks," said Cloud simply. For there stood the large Rude, perfectly looking the part of a bouncer blocking them from passing through the exit.

"Aren't you going to say something, Rude?" said a female voice from above them. Cloud whirled around to see a young blonde on a small protrusion above them, dressed identically to Rude. "Well, I guess you never were big on speeches, were you?" Rude, predictably, didn't reply. "Oh, and I don't suppose we've been introduced, have we?" said the woman, now addressing Cloud and company. "I'm Elena Kinneas, newest member of the Turks. And in addition to apprehending Sephiroth, we've been sent to retrieve Aeris from you all!"

"Elena, might I remind you that the Turks are undercover operatives, and as such, are not to go around shouting out their missions?" And in marched Tseng to stand beside Rude. The gang was all here.

"Oh! Tseng, I'm sorry, I didn't…"

Tseng silenced her with a gesture. "So Aeris, I'm glad to see that you're doing well. Unfortunately, Elena was correct. We have been sent to take you back home."

"How about you let me decide where my home is?" said Aeris defiantly.

"I'm afraid that regardless of where your home is or isn't, the President cordially requests your presence back in Midgar," said Tseng with a smile. "He is being quite forgiving, in fact. He is willing to let all the rest of you go, despite the fact that you infiltrated the headquarters of ShinRa itself. All you need do is hand Aeris over to us, and you may go free."

"Forget it," said Cloud firmly. "Aeris stays with us."

"Why don't you let us go?" said Tifa. "We're after Sephiroth, the same as you. We can work with you!"

"And what about Aeris?" said Elena.

"We'll decide that after we've finished with Sephiroth," said Tifa.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," said Tseng. "We can hardly just let you go."

"After all, we went through all the trouble to close down the mines so we could lay this trap!"

"Elena!" snapped Tseng. The woman shrank back as a scolded dog. Well, that explained that, anyway. "But she's right. We can't just let you pass through after that. Not without Aeris."

Cloud nodded, turning to Barret. "Barret, take Aeris, and run. Just get away from them." Barret nodded.

"What?" said Aeris indignantly. "Cloud, I can take care of--"

"Now is NOT the time, Aeris!" said Cloud. "You're who they're after, and you're just who we can't let them get! Now go!" And with that, Barret easily lifted Aeris with his one hand and leapt down to the lower level, taking off running into the tunnels.

"After them!" shouted Tseng. Elena leapt down from her perch and Rude advanced, but Cloud, Tifa, and Red XIII stepped forward to block their way to the lower path just as Rude had blocked the exit. "I see," said Tseng. "Very well then. I didn't want it to come to this, but so be it. Attack!"

Tseng immediately drew a 9mm handgun, aiming straight at Cloud. Acting fast, Cloud shot off a Blizzard spell, but to his astonishment, a green shield promptly appeared in front of Tseng, bouncing the spell right back towards him. A wave of intense cold shot over him, draining the strength from his limbs, and he collapsed. But his trained body quickly recovered itself, and he rolled aside just in time to avoid the bullet which splintered the stone where his head had been seconds before. "A Reflect shield?" he muttered.

"You didn't think you were the only ones with Materia, did you?" said Tseng with a grin. Cloud cursed. Of course the Turks, with ShinRa's resources, would be equipped with the best. Thanks to his magical Reflect barrier, Tseng was immune to any magic that Cloud or any of his comrades had. That, and he had a handgun with which he was a good shot. This was going to be interesting.

Seeing Cloud down on the ground, Elena knew she had a perfect opportunity to take out the group's leader. She pulled out a mini-Uzi submachine gun and took aim. Red XIII observed this and took a single mighty leap forward, letting out a mighty roar. This caught Elena's attention, and she looked to see a huge orange beast flying through the air towards her, claws forward and teeth bared. Shrieking, she threw herself aside just in time. Red XIII landed on the ground and nimbly leaped to face her, only to have to jump back to avoid a burst of gunfire. Elena frantically wracked her brains for a plan as she held the beast back with bursts of fire from her Uzi. The creature was too fast for Elena to hit even with her submachine gun, but the rapid fire did keep it from advancing. The fight was at a stalemate, for now.

Rude reached inside his jacket to pull out a .357 handgun, but Tifa didn't plan to give him the chance to use it. Just as he was taking aim at Cloud, she sprinted forward, leapt through the air, and planted a drop kick square in his chest. But the Turk proved remarkably sturdy. The kick, which would have sent most people flying, failed to even knock him down. But it was enough to make him lose his gun, which went flying off into the cave. Rude glanced in its direction, shrugged, then turned back to face his opponent, who was just regaining her balance from her attack. They assumed fighting stances…all too similar stances. Tifa stared with open mouth.

"Zangan?" she said simply. Rude nodded. They stared for a moment more, then sprang into action. Tifa launched a roundhouse kick. Rude easily blocked it, grabbing her foot and throwing her aside. Tifa landed in a roll and quickly rose to her knees, only to meet a snap kick by Rude right under the chin. She flew backwards amidst drops of blood and skidded to a stop on the rock floor of the cave. She looked up and saw Rude coming in for the kill, and rolled aside just in time to avoid a smash to the face. She once again rose to her knees and, tensing her leg muscles, sprang upward in a leaping uppercut. Rude staggered backwards, spitting blood, then straightened himself. He gazed at her evenly with a raised eyebrow, the most expression she had ever seen from him. And then he charged.

The blows flew fast and furiously, each knowing the appropriate defenses and counters. It seemed that this fight too, would be a stalemate. But the Turk's superior strength was proving a decisive advantage in the close quarters, and Tifa was slowly getting beaten down. She needed a change in strategy. Thinking fast, her mind settled on the only weapon at her disposal aside from her fists: the Lightning Materia that Cloud had given her. Leaping backwards out of the melee, she concentrated and shot a bolt of lightning straight at her opponent. It struck Rude in the leg and he went down with a grunt. But he soon hauled himself up, eyebrows crossed. He held his hands out, and Tifa noticed a glowing light emanating from under his cuff. She didn't notice any effects at first, but it soon struck her that Rude seemed to be moving extraordinarily fast. Then, as she glanced over at the others, they were moving inhumanly quickly as well. "He's slowed me down!" thought Tifa desperately, and before she knew it, Rude was on her. She tried to defend against his familiar moves, but just as she moved to counter, it was too late. She took blow after blow helplessly, feeling her strength rapidly drain. She was soon on the ground, panting. She slowly looked up just in time to see a shined black dress shoe coming right for her face, and then she saw no more.

Tseng leapt back once more from his opponent's huge blade. He had hit the ex-SOLDIER with multiple offensive spells and several bullets, but still he kept coming. He risked a quick glance to survey his teammates. Elena was still fending off the beast, but Rude was now standing over the motionless body of the girl he had been fighting. Rude cast a quick Cure spell on himself, healing his wounds. Tseng grinned as he weighed his options. He could have Rude help him and Elena, and therefore turn the tide of this otherwise inconclusive battle. But in that time Aeris could escape, and she was their objective. Winning this fight, while certainly pleasing, would ultimately be irrelevant. "Rude! Go after the big guy and Aeris!" he called. Rude nodded and leapt to the lower path, taking off into the tunnels.

"Shit," thought Cloud, but there was nothing he could do. It was all he and Red XIII could do to keep these heavily armed enemies from breaking through and getting back there themselves. Barret and Aeris would have to handle themselves, against an enemy they didn't know was coming.

"C'mon!" said Barret as he pulled Aeris along through the tunnels. There were no lanterns in these back tunnels, and it was nearly pitch black.

"How much…further?" she panted between heavy breaths.

"Who knows? We just gotta make sure we get away from them suits!" he said as he yanked her arm. She tried to resist, which against Barret was an extremely futile gesture, so he dragged her on.

After a few more minutes, she managed to wrest herself free and sink to her knees. "Honestly Barret…I can't go on like this."

"Fine, a short break," said Barret. "Won't never find us all the way back here, anyways." But the words had scarcely escaped his lips before Aeris emitted a muffled shriek and disappeared into the darkness. With a roar, Barret threw himself into her direction, toppling over both Aeris and Rude like a huge cannonball. Rude rolled and recovered himself, only to meet a mighty punch from Barret. He flew backwards into the cave wall and sunk to the floor. He had miscalculated. The Cure spell may have healed the actual damage he had sustained, but hadn't restored his vigor, and he hardly felt up to fighting a huge, angry warrior and a powerful mage. It was time to cut his losses. Clutching his chest, he took off into the darkness.

"Son of a bitch Turk! Come back here and fight me, ya wuss!" yelled Barret, shaking a fist at the blackness.

Aeris grabbed his arm. "Barret, wait! If he was able to get down here to us, that means he must have broken through our line!"

"Shit! They're in trouble!" said Barret. "No time ta rest now! Let's go!" he said as he once again grabbed Aeris' hand and led her off into the tunnels.

Red XIII leapt aside for the umpteenth time as bullets raked the spot where he had stood a moment before. Even he was getting tired from this ceaseless dodging. He had hoped that he would be able to launch an attack while Elena was reloading, but no such luck; she was too fast. Something had to change soon, or else he would quite simply run out of steam.

Elena was thinking much the same thing. She had henceforth been able to avoid being attacked by the creature, but all it took was one slip-up: one missed burst, or one fumble while reloading, and it would be all over her. She had to break this stalemate. She took her Uzi in one hand and fired off the rest of the clip, while with her other hand reaching into her jacket. In one smooth motion she pulled out an incendiary grenade, pulled the pin, and lobbed it at her enemy. Spotting the grenade, the beast once again dodged, but not far enough. The grenade exploded into a localized inferno, catching the beast at the edge of the blast radius. It roared with pain as its fur rapidly went up in flames, and started frantically rolling on the floor to extinguish itself. Elena couldn't help but laugh at the once ferocious creature, so easily reduced to this helpless pup. But when next she looked, it was back on its feet. It was still wreathed in flames, but was no longer rolling on the floor. Rather, it was running straight for her, fangs bared. But it was a good twenty feet away, and even it wasn't that fast. She reached for a new clip to reload her Uzi and finish the fight, but as she glanced up, she noticed that the beast's speed was increasing at an impossible rate. It was a fiery blur, zooming straight for her. Before she could throw up an arm to ward it off, it was too late.

Red XIII slammed right into the Turk face first, sinking his sharp teeth deep into her chest. Elena flew backwards from the force of Red XIII's attack, slamming into the wall with a crunch and sliding to the floor.

Tseng launched another Fire spell at Cloud, but the warrior was able to mostly shield himself from the attack with his sword. The Turk was running out of ideas, and out of the mental strength necessary to use magic. He needed some backup from his teammates if he was to win this fight. He looked over to Elena for help, but to his horror found her lying crumpled in a bloody mess on the cave floor, with the fiery-red beast literally in flames and tearing at her flesh. "Elena!" he cried, rushing towards her. The creature whirled on him, blood dripping from its jaws and fire in its fur and its eyes. He hesitated, and in a moment the creature was on him. He fell to the ground with its full weight on its chest, but leaning back he shot out his legs and threw it off him. There was no way he could win this on his own. It was up to Rude to grab Aeris and get out. But as if on cue, Rude came running from the tunnels, extremely winded and empty handed. In just a few moments, the tables had turned and Tseng could see that his team was defeated.

"Rude, get up here now!" he called. The large Turk hastened to comply. "Well Cloud, that's it for us," said Tseng, as a green gem in his gun started to glow. He put forth his hands, and just as the beast started to pounce, an overpowering wind shot forth, sweeping up his opponents and blowing them back off the path. "We'll have to do this again sometime!" he yelled as he turned face and ran from the cave, Rude close behind carrying the injured Elena.

Cloud struggled to his feet with a groan. He wasn't going to be able to take much more magical abuse. Thankfully, it seemed that the Turks had fled. But Red XIII wasn't quite so willing to let the fight end. He leapt to his feet, growling and made to leap back up to the upper ledge, but Cloud grabbed him. "Red XIII! Let 'em go!" Red XIII suddenly turned on him, snarling menacingly, and even Cloud quailed. The beast's flames were mostly out, but his usually green eyes now glowed a burning red. All intelligence was gone from them, replaced by a bestial desire to kill and feed. He looked ready to rip Cloud's throat out without a second thought. But the color in his eyes reverted to normal, and the familiar gleam of intellect slowly returned. "I am…sorry, Cloud," said Red XIII, looking down. "Sometimes even I can be overtaken by a blind rage, and I think not of…"

"Don't worry about it," said Cloud, regaining his composure after almost being torn to bits by his comrade. "Happens to the best of us."

Two sets of heavy breaths announced Aeris and Barret's return. "'Ey! You all alright?" said Barret.

"More or less," said Cloud, standing despite his numerous bullet and magically inflicted wounds.

"What about Tifa?" said Aeris worriedly. And then it dawned on Cloud too. How else had Rude gotten by, if not by defeating his opponent? They rushed back to the upper ledge and ran over to Tifa's prone form. "Shit," murmured Cloud as he gazed down on her beaten form. She was too far gone for a healing potion or Cure spell. He reached into his backpack and drew out a Phoenix Down. Opening Tifa's mouth, he uncorked the bottle and slowly poured the orange liquid down her throat. "Aeris, be ready with a Cure spell," he said. Aeris nodded silently behind him. After a few moments, Tifa began to stir, moaning in pain. But soon she silenced, and she sat up and opened her eyes as the Cure spell took effect.

"You alright?" Cloud asked. She put a hand to her forehead, nodding. "You don't seem to be doing so hot against the Turks," he teased gently. She looked up at him and smiled weakly. "I just had to pick the one who had the same training as me."

"Ya mean that Turk learned from that guy back in Cloud's story in Nibelheim?" said Barret. She nodded. "Hmph. Small world."

"Well, all said and done, I'd say we did all right," said Cloud, rising to his feet. "We beat off the Turks, we kept Aeris, and we're all okay."

"Relatively speaking," muttered Tifa. Cloud slowly lead the team out the exit of the cave at long last. He observed the tire tracks in the grass that the Turks had left. "Too bad we don't have a car," he remarked. "And the chocobos will be long gone too, the cowards that they are. Guess we're on foot for a while."

"Um, Cloud?" said Aeris tentatively. He turned around, and for the first time noticed the sweat running down her face. "Do you mind if we took a teeny break first?" He grinned and nodded, and they took the rest of the day and night off.


	25. Of Burglaries and Mutant Fishies

Of Burglaries and Mutant Fishies

Cloud whipped his head around. He was sure he heard something that time. But there was nothing to see but Tifa, Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII, walking with him through the forest which they had entered after two days of westward travel from the Mythril Mines. "Did anyone hear that?" he asked. Barret, Tifa, and Aeris shook their heads, but Red XIII nodded. "I smell something as well, or rather someone."

"Someone besides us?" asked Aeris. Red XIII again nodded.

"It's not the Turks, is it?" Tifa asked warily.

"No," said Red XIII. "There is only one human, and it is one whose scent I do not recognize."

"Is it...Sephiroth?" asked Aeris.

"No," replied Cloud firmly. Again, he somehow knew that when Sephiroth was near, he would feel it, which he wasn't now.

'Ey! Come out!" yelled Barret into the trees. There was no response aside from the flutter of a few startled birds.

"Somehow I don't imagine that'll help," muttered Cloud.

"Y'know what, spiky-ass? I don'..."

"Boys!" exclaimed Tifa and Aeris simultaneously. They looked at each other and burst out laughing, while Barret and Cloud glowered at each other. Red XIII observed them all, then shook his head. "Humans..." But then he was struck by a difference he had just seen in Cloud. He looked again. "Cloud, do you not usually carry a Materia in your sword?"

"Huh?" said Cloud, breaking out of his staring match with Barret. "Of course I do! You can see that!" he replied when Red XIII repeated his question.

"On the contrary, I cannot see it, because it is not there," said Red XIII. Exasperated, Cloud reached back and drew his sword to show Red XIII, when he noticed it too. His Materia was missing. "Hey, who took my Ice Materia?" he said. There was a chorus of denials. "The Sense Materia is gone too," he said, searching his pockets. "C'mon people, this is moronic. Who did it?"

"Hey, my Lightning Materia is missing too!" said Tifa, staring at the empty slot in her wristband.

"What's goin' on here?" said Barret.

"I would imagine that our anonymous stalker is in fact a Materia thief," said Red XIII. "And judging back the fact that the scent is growing more distant, he seems to have stolen all of it and be getting away."

"No, wait! He hasn't gotten all of it!" said Aeris. Cloud looked around, searching for Materia in slots of weapons or wristbands, but could see nothing. He gazed at Aeris angrily when her wooden staff suddenly materialized in her hand, complete with Fire and Restore Materia.

"Tha's right! We got those two left!" exclaimed Barret happily.

"Say that a bit louder, would you?" said Cloud.

"Leader or not, I am about to kick your spiky little-"

"No, really, we want him to hear it."

"Wha, so he can steal these too???"

Cloud shook his head, then quietly explained.

It was too good to be true. They were all asleep, and in the staff held by one of the girls were two more beautiful little gems. The girl no doubt thought that by holding the staff in her sleep, she would have to be awoken for the Materia to be stolen. "'Fraid not," thought the thief, rubbing her hands excitedly. She could just approach silently, coax the gems from their sockets, and depart, leaving the staff unmoved in the girl's hand. The thief moved through the foliage, staying low to the ground and making sure to disturb the plants as little as possible. She approached the slumbering group, stepping as lightly as she could. When she reached the girl, she bent down slowly, hardly breathing as she reached for the staff. But as her fingers brushed the first crystal, the staff suddenly vanished right in front of her eyes, Materia and all! "What the..." said the thief, then backed off as the girl leapt to her feet. The thief turned to flee, only to be faced with another girl, this one much more muscular. She kept turning, only to find more enemies, finally running straight into the huge man with a gun for his arm. He used his one good hand to easily lift up the thief by her shirt.

"Hey! Lemme down, you big oaf!" she shrieked, battering the man's chest with all her might. He didn't even flinch.

"Why should I?" said Barret. "Ya stole our Materia, ya little brat!" Cloud regarded the catch with curiosity. Their thief looked young, a teenager, even. She was wearing quite diminutive khaki shorts, tennis shoes, a headband, and a green tank top. She wore her brown hair very short for a girl, and had a distinctly foreign look about her, probably Western. But the most peculiar thing about her was her weapon: a huge, curved four-point shuriken which she wore on her back.

"What's a little girl going to do with Materia, anyway?" said Tifa.

"Little girl???" exclaimed the thief furiously. "I'm twenty-one!"

Cloud cleared his throat loudly. "I'm twenty-one, and I think we'll all agree that I look somewhat older than you." The girl deflated like a balloon. "So how old are you?"

"None of your business!" spat the girl.

Barret tightened the grip on the thief's shirt until her face started to go blue. "I think we're decidin' what's our business!"

"Okay! Sixteen!" gasped the girl.

"A bit young for a professional pickpocket, aren't you?" said Aeris.

"Hey, just 'cause I'm young doesn't mean I can't handle myself!" exclaimed the girl. "The only reason you got me is because they're so many of you! I could take any of you, anytime!"

"Riiight," said Cloud as he stepped forward and started to search the girl for the Materia. "Hey, I know I'm hot stuff and all, but watch where you're puttin' your hands!" said the girl. Cloud ignored her as he searched her pockets and produced the missing Materia, which he redistributed to Tifa and himself.

"And what exactly is this?" said Tifa, taking the massive shuriken from the girl's back.

"Hey! Gimme that back!" demanded the girl, kicking furiously to no avail.

"Where'd this come from, do you figure?" Tifa asked the group.

"Somewhere in Fen-Shi, undoubtedly," said Red XIII. "And seeing as most of the continent is losing touch with its roots thanks to the ShinRa domination, I would guess Wutai."

"'Ey, is that Materia in it?" said Barret, looking down at the weapon Tifa held.

"Well, looks like it is!" said Tifa, removing two gems from the shuriken, one green and one yellow.

"Such young girls shouldn't play with weapons or Materia," said Aeris wisely. "They could hurt themselves."

"GIVE THOSE BACK!" shrieked the girl, still flailing furiously.

"What do you think, Cloud?" said Aeris, mischief in her eyes. "She tried to steal our Materia. Seems like justice to me if we take these."

"Definitely," said Cloud, taking the Materia from Tifa.

"No! You can't do this! I'll do anything!" pleaded the girl. "I'll...I'll come with you!"

"Say what???" said Barret incredulously. "Second we turned our backs, you'd be gone, along with our Materia!"

"Doesn't sound like a very good deal," agreed Tifa.

"I won't try and rob you again! I promise!" said the girl. Cloud snorted. "And I'm a good fighter! It looks like you all are warriors yourself! You could use me along! Please? Pretty please???"

"Stop whimpering," said Cloud, replacing the two Materia in the shuriken and giving it back to the girl. "We're not crooks like you. Now get out of here, before I change my mind." Barret roughly dropped the girl to the ground. She slowly climbed to her feet, looking up at him. "But...could I still come with you?" asked the girl tremulously.

"Get lost!" said Cloud, and promptly resumed walking towards Junon. The rest followed, leaving the would-be thief standing alone amidst the trees.

"Hey! We'll meet up again sometime!" shouted the girl from behind.

"I wouldn't advise it, for your sake!" replied Cloud, without turning.

"What was with her?" said Barret as they walked. "Why d'ya think she wanted to come along so bad?"

"So she could rob us again, obviously," said Cloud. "Bet she'd change her mind in a hurry if she knew who we were chasing."

Tifa spoke up from behind. "Speaking of which, how do we know that Sephiroth was heading for Junon, anyway?"

Cloud shrugged. "We don't, really. But the Turks' tire tracks lead in that direction, and seeing as finding Sephiroth was their mission, it seems like a good place to start."

"Wherever he is, I wouldn't mind finding some more chocobos," said Aeris. "I'm really not made for all this walking."

"You'll get used to it," said Cloud. "But in the meantime, I guess we can catch a few once we get out of this forest."  
"Lookin' forward ta getting' outta here anyway," said Barret. "Harder to get snuck up on without all these damn trees around."

"Why do you suppose that girl desired Materia so urgently?" said Red XIII. "They aren't particularly valuable, seeing as most humans do not realize their power."

"The prettier ones fetch a decent price at a jewelry shop, but still nothing huge," said Cloud. "And she didn't even touch our money."

"Weird," remarked Aeris, and except for listening a bit more carefully to their surroundings from then on, that was the end of the matter.

Their destination came into sight as night was beginning to fall on the continent. Junon was referred to by many as a waterfront Midgar, for the basic concept was the same: take a relatively simple, happy town with a good location, and build a roaring metropolis over top of it, sentencing the original inhabitants to live in the perpetually dark and grungy remnants of their former idyllic lives. Such was the blessing that ShinRa brought to the locales where it chose to build. It was unfathomable that nearly the entire world had supported this huge amoral corporation at one point not too long in the past. But no, that wasn't true, Cloud realized. Hadn't he himself yearned to become one of ShinRa's elite SOLDIERS as a child? ShinRa's wealth and opulence and promises of luxuries had given it a glamorous sheen that was hard to see through. That was, until it had trapped your home under a huge metal plate of a sky. But at that point, of course, it was too late. ShinRa was now too powerful to even think of opposing. Rebel groups like AVALANCHE may irritate it, but were in the end inevitably doomed to failure. The company's manpower and resources were simply too vast to be overcome. ShinRa was, and forever would be, a fact of like as basic and everlasting as the sun's rising. It was with such unpleasant thoughts that Cloud entered the city of Lower Junon.

He had never seen Lower Junon before, and immediately saw that he hadn't missed much. It indeed bore a striking resemblance to Lower Midgar, with its ramshackle residences, grungy and downcast inhabitants, and dim light coming down only from the fluorescent lights mounted on the plate above. Though Cloud was relieved at the lack of a mass slaughter, it worried him somewhat: did Sephiroth really come here after all?

"Ain't nothin' ta see here," remarked Barret sadly. "Jes' like Midgar."

"That's what we hear," agreed an old man, strolling by. "I remember when this was Junon proper, not just Lower Junon. Was just a quiet little fishing town. But then the ShinRa came in here and decided they wanted a new city right here. So they built that monster of a city above and sent all their trash down here. Now the only fish we can get are all sick and mutated. Least we can leave, thought. I hear in Midgar they won't even let them do that. But still, I've lived here all my life. I'm not about to move, even if ShinRa has ruined the town."

"Dammit, the more I hear about ShinRa, the more I hate 'em," said Barret, clenching his fist.

"Well, where do we go from here?" said Aeris. "I don't think Sephiroth will be waiting to greet us."

"We split up and look for clues, I guess," said Cloud. "Ask around. A figure like Sephiroth would be pretty hard to miss." The team agreed and walked off in different directions, with the exception of Red XIII, who had long since realized that most humans were not at their most talkative when being addressed by a clawed and fanged creature on four legs. Cloud walked off to the southern part of town. He passed several people, none of whom had seen a tall, cloaked swordsman, and continued down a long hill until he reached a small beach, cut off on the eastern side by a huge metal wall. The water was green and sluggish with pollution of who-knew-what sort, but looking out past the immediate sound, Cloud could see the Tirre Ocean, sparkling beautifully in the last remnants of the red sun. He stopped still and just gazed in wonder for a moment. Even in such a horrible place, beauty could still be found. He wondered if Aeris had ever seen the ocean. She would be utterly breathless at the sight. But just then Cloud spotted at his feet a girl who was literally breathless: a young girl was lying face down in the disgusting water. He promptly bent over and easily lifted her out of the water. She still had color in her face, but was no longer breathing. Cursing, Cloud ran back to the shore and lay the girl down face up. Trying to ignore what this would look like to a casual onlooker, he immediately started to deliver CPR, alternating between delivering abdominal thrusts and breaths into the girl's mouth. Eventually, the girl started to sputter, violently coughing up polluted seawater. Cloud finally leaned back, taking a deep breath for himself.

"You...you saved me!" said the girl, her eyes now open.

"Yeah," said Cloud. "What happened to you?" But her eyes widened fearfully, turning from Cloud back to the sea. "Th...that!" she said, pointing with a shaking hand. Cloud turned to see a fish mutated to about ten times its normal size in the shallows, eying him maliciously.

"Help me!" said the girl, shrinking back.

"Don't worry, he can't get you up here," said Cloud. "I'll take care of him." He drew his Buster Sword and slowly advanced, making sure to stay out of the water. The fish started to thrash in the water, anxious to get new prey. Gripping his sword, he extended one hand and cast a Blizzard spell. The fish suddenly found itself surrounded by a thin layer of ice. It started thrashing to free itself, and the ice shattered. But Cloud quickly threw his sword into the air, reversing his grip on it, and thrust down with it one-handed as a fishing spear. Before it could escape, the fish was impaled, its foul blood spilling out to join with the rest of the filth. Cloud withdrew his sword and turned to find the girl fleeing for the town. He could hardly blame her, he thought, as he sheathed his sword and walked back to join the others.

There was a small crowd waiting at the top of the hill. Cloud soon found himself bombarded with questions about the soaked, half-drowned girl who had just run by, whose name seemed to be Priscilla. Cloud quickly explained what had happened, and the onlookers were suitably impressed and grateful. One old, worn-out looking woman stepped forward. "I can't tell you how grateful we are for you saving our Priscilla. Where are you from, anyway?"

"We've traveled from Midgar," said Cloud.

"All the way from Midgar? You must be exhausted!" exclaimed the woman. "Please, stay at my house tonight."

"No, I couldn't," said Cloud, shaking his head. "Besides, I'm with four others, who you may have seen around. I'm sure we'd be too much for you."

"No, it'll be fine," insisted the woman. "I have friends that I can stay with for the night. Please, it's the least we can do."

"What's this, Cloud?" said Tifa as she walked up. "We have a place to stay tonight?"

"Um, well...I guess," said Cloud, scratching his head.

"Great! It is getting sort of late," said Tifa. "We can start looking again tomorrow." The woman beamed at them and thanked them again as she and the rest of the crowd dispersed.

"You didn't find out anything, did you?" said Cloud. Tifa shook her head, and he sighed. He had expected to work all through the night, scouring the town thoroughly. But then, not all of the group had such endurance. "Fine, fine," he said, and allowed Tifa to lead him to where the rest of his team had gathered.

"'Ey! Not bad, considerin' that it's in the slums an' all," said Barret upon entering the cottage. Far from being a ramshackle hut made of scrap as were all too common in Lower Midgar, this home, while small, had a cozy and almost comfortable feel. The woman evidently lived alone, as there was only one small bed. Aeris took this, and the rest of the party spread out on the floor. Cloud wasn't at all tired yet, and knew that he would be up for at least an hour with his unwelcome thoughts. And indeed, he soon found his mind roaming back to the story he had told back in Kalm, of the incidence in Nibelheim. Something struck him as somewhat odd. Why had the town seemed so deserted? Tifa, for instance. She was obviously in town, as she was their guide. Yet when he had searched for her, even in her own home, there was no sign of her. Save for his own mother, the town had seemed eerily deserted until they departed for the reactor the next day. He had figured that everyone was hiding in their homes because of the danger, but what about Tifa? Why could he not remember ever seeing her alone? Something just didn't add up. But as these thoughts entered his head, he surprised himself by instantly falling into a deep sleep.

Back at school, which means back to semi-regular updates. Maybe. And it also means a return to my self-indulgent rants. I share many of your sentiments about the Turks: why do they attack at Gongaga, but just let you walk out of the Mythril Mines? So I made a big battle out of that scene, and minimized the stupid flying mutant fish attack at Junon to compensate. Yes, I left out any reference to Fort Condor, and will probably leave it out altogether. Don't yell at me, I'll have the battle scene in there somewhere, but possibly in a different, better setting. And we have, of course, the first appearance of the Yuffster. I was considering leaving her out as well, for unlike her comrade-in-secret-characterness Vincent, she doesn't really add much to the main plot. Plus I don't like her. But I figured some of you would hate me forever, so she'll be back, and I'll rewrite things to make her more relevant. I'm too nice to you all. And for those of you wondering about the lack of the voice, it hurts to leave it out, but it just didn't make sense. The voice didn't want Cloud to realize the incongruencies in his past, so why would it introduce the Tifa question? So I had Cloud realize this himself, and the voice performed its usual trick of knocking him out. Okay, enough of me. Responses to those of you who wrote enough to require them below. All else, thanksya and enjoy.

EmeraldJewel: Good eye on Red XIII's attack; it was indeed a limit break. But I meant for it to be his first, Sled Fang, where he starts running towards the enemy kinda slowly, then speeds up so much that he pretty much shoots through them. I left out the blue swirly light thingys, but it was Sled Fang nonetheless.

Dark ki: Can't say I duplicated your feat with the Zolom. How'd you take Beta and survive? Anyway, I did read that far down, so HA! And I agree about the FF movie. Never saw it, but from what I saw in ads and such it bore no resemblance to Final Fantasy whatever. Which ain't coo'.


	26. A Presidential Welcome

Presidential Welcome

"Cloud! Wake up, already!"

After hearing the voice for the tenth time, Cloud finally wrenched a single eye open to observe Tifa bending over him. "I woke up last again?" he thought groggily.

"Cloud, something's going on outside! Come on!" said Tifa.

"Tifa..." he muttered, as she started to walk outside.

"Hmm?" she said, turning back.

"In Nibelheim, five years ago, the day before we went to the reactor...where were you?"

"Before we went to the reactor?" said Tifa, a queer unreadable look on her face. "I don't remember. It was a long time ago," she said quickly. "Come on, get up!" Thoroughly unsatisfied, Cloud nevertheless rose and, gathering his equipment, followed her outside. He found the group standing together on one of the main roads of Lower Junon, but he noticed more the music permeating the atmosphere. A rousing, triumphant march was playing from somewhere above. "What's the music?" said Cloud.

"We dunno! Started a few minutes ago, an' none of us knows what's goin' on!" said Barret.

"What do you think, Cloud?" said Aeris. He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Hey! There you are!" They looked up at the second story of a house to see a girl running down an exterior stairway towards them. Cloud quickly recognized it as Priscilla, the girl he had saved the day before. She made it down the stairs and halted before them.

"How are you doing?" said Cloud. The girl looked at her feet, blushing furiously. "I just wanted to thank you for saving me."

"It was nothing," Cloud said nonchalantly.

"No, really," muttered the girl. She reached into her shirt and pulled out an amulet adorned by a large scarlet gem. "Please, take this. It's not real valuable or anything, but I want you to have it."

"No, I couldn't..." started Cloud, but Aeris stepped forward. "Thank you, we'll take it," said Aeris, taking the amulet from the girl. Cloud shot her an angry glance. Why was Aeris, of all people, taking this treasure from a girl who certainly was short on treasures?

"Just...thanks again," said the girl, who looked up Cloud once with a scarlet face before rushing back inside."

"Robbin' the cradle on that one, ain't ya?" said Barret.

"Shut UP, Barret!" exclaimed Cloud angrily. "And Aeris, why'd you take that? You know that must've been the most valuable thing that girl..."

"Cloud, analyze it real quick!" said Aeris. Confused, Cloud focused on the amulet for a moment, but then the truth jumped out at him. The gem wasn't a cheap jewel, it was a Materia! "I figured we would be better able to use it than her," said Aeris.

"Point taken," said Cloud. "But what is it?" He was experienced in Materia, but this one was new to him. Its red color betrayed the fact that it was a Summon Materia, used to temporarily conjure powerful creatures, but beyond that he was clueless.

"It's Shiva!" said Aeris excitedly. "The Guardian of Ice!"

"Huh?" said Cloud, and by looking around, he could see that the rest of his companions, save possibly the impossible Red XIII, were as confused as he. Aeris sighed impatiently, then quickly explained. "When the Cetra were colonizing this world, they used the elements we know, like Ice, Earth, Fire, etc. And each of these elements has a Guardian, a powerful entity to keep watch over it to make sure that it stays in balance with the rest of the elements. And this Materia here is connected to the Guardian of the element Ice!"

"So, we're talkin' pretty powerful then, right?" said Barret.

"We're talking the most powerful force of cold you can imagine!" said Aeris, eyes gleaming.

"Well, good creature to have on our side, then," said Cloud. "You keep hold of it, Aeris." She nodded, slipping the amulet around her neck and into her dress. "Now to find out what's up with this music. He walked over to an old man, the same they had talked to the day before, in fact, still wearing the same worn brown pants and blue shirt. "Hey, do you know what that music is for?" he said.

"Think that's them practicing for the inauguration of the new President," replied the man.

"New President?" asked Tifa.

"President Rufus, recently promoted to President of ShinRa," he said.

"Rufus..." muttered Cloud, clenching a fist.

"New President o' ShinRa?!" exclaimed Barret. "I gotta get up there an' pay my respects!"

"Barret! We're not here for ShinRa, remember?" said Tifa.

Barret growled. "Well if the bastard's here an' so're we, then why not jes' pay him a quick visit?"

"That sounds like a good idea, actually," said Cloud.

"Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed in exasperation.

"No, listen. When Sephiroth broke into ShinRa H.Q. to free us and Jenova, he made it a point to kill the President on his way out, didn't he? Why wouldn't he try to do the same again?"

"So you think that Sephiroth is here to assassinate President Rufus?" said Red XIII. "That seems like a rather long shot considering that we have no real evidence, does it not?"

Cloud shrugged. "Do we have anything better to go on? I seriously doubt Sephiroth would be hanging out down here, anyway. We might as well at least go up to Upper Junon and take a look around."

"Sounds good to me," said Aeris. "Excuse me, sir?" The old man turned once again to face them. "How can we get to Upper Junon from here?"

"Upper Junon?" said the man, scratching his grey beard. "I dunno, none of us bother with them up there, and they don't bother with us, generally speakin'. But I think that elevator there will take you up." He pointed down the main street to a set of doors in a metal wall, guarded by two ShinRa soldiers. Cloud shook his head. "No good, they can't know we're here. Any other way?"

"Well, I think I heard about some stupid kids climbing up a tower up to Upper," said the man. "Tower's over in the water, but I sure wouldn't recommend it."

"We'll take a look. Thanks," said Cloud, as he lead the group down to the water where he had saved Priscilla the day before. Next to the huge metal wall he did indeed see a tower, likely a power conductor from the underwater Mako Reactor that Cloud heard lay far below the ocean's surface, the only one in the world. "High voltage, probably," he muttered.

"Well, then I guess we'd better leave it to you," said Aeris.

"Yeah, Cloud can handle it," seconded Tifa.

"Huh?" Cloud said, startled. "Why me???" But he found no respite in anyone's face, so he started to wade out into the murky water, grumbling. This leader thing was really getting old, he thought, as he examined the tower. As he grew closer, he noticed electricity visibly sparking from a damaged section of the tower. "Definitely don't want to touch this thing," Cloud said.

"Well then how we supposed ta get up?" said Barret.

"I'm working on it!" snapped Cloud as he looked over the tower. High above him, about thirty feet, he noticed a metal bar protruding out past the tower, and nearby a walkway leading to a ladder, which extended up through the metal sky. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the rope and grapnel he had purchased back in Kalm, and after twirling it in the air several times while judging the distance, threw it up. He missed on the first three throws, but with the fourth he managed to successfully hook the grapnel onto the bar. "Now we just have to climb up to that bar, then make our way over to the ladder."

"Good job, Cloud!" said Aeris.

"Dammit! Not more rope climbin'!" moaned Barret.

"You got a better idea?" demanded Cloud.

"As a matter o' fact..."

"Boys!" said Tifa, Aeris, and Red XIII. The girls looked questioningly at the creature. Red XIII shrugged. "I learn by observation."

Suppressing a grin as the girls burst into a fit of giggles, Cloud grabbed hold of the rope and quickly climbed up to stand on the bar. It was thin and round, a challenge to balance on, but Cloud was dexterous enough to make his way over to the walkway without much trouble. "C'mon up!" he called. After a moment's thought, in which he realized the length of time it would take for the one-handed Barret and no-handed Red XIII to get up, he added, "I'll go ahead and scout out the terrain a little!"

"Roger that!" called Tifa from below. Cloud turned and climbed up the ladder to the metal plate. There was a hatch for the ladder, which Cloud found very heavy and securely locked. ShinRa really didn't want anyone from Lower Junon messing around topsides. "Too bad for them," Cloud thought, as he carved a hole into the hatch with his Buster Sword and climbed into Upper Junon.

Cloud found himself on a long, flat platform looking to be a runway. The platform was empty except for one vehicle, but this vehicle certainly occupied his eyes. The craft was huge, almost a half-mile long by the look of it, and several stories high. It was made of seamlessly welded steel plate. Cloud might almost say it was a stationary building instead of a vehicle, for it was like no vehicle he had ever seen. However, it had a sleek, aerodynamic design that betrayed its use as an airborne craft. Upon closer inspection, Cloud saw that its function was in fact quite obvious. There were two huge turbine engines jutting out from the sides near the front of the craft, on top of which was mounted a massive four-bladed propeller each. Only half of the length of the craft was the fuselage, the rest being a pair of parallel tails. There was a series of rudders below the tails for the steering, and rudders also branched off from the two tail fins, both of which were boldly emblazoned with the blood-red ShinRa logo.

Cloud had seen much as a SOLDIER, but even he couldn't help but stare in awe at this magnificent craft. He had heard ShinRa was working on the development of flying machines, but this completely surpassed even his wildest imaginations. Such a vehicle would have taken decades to design and construct, yet he had never heard of it. This must be a top-secret project that he had stumbled upon. "Bet this would make our journey easier," thought Cloud, but knew that such a craft must be ridiculously complicated to fly, even if they could successfully steal it from right under ShinRa's noses. He would just have to move on. Regretfully tearing his eyes away from the wonder of modern technology, Cloud started moving towards the end of the platform. The platform suddenly ended. Another section lay ten feet or so below, with a military-looking structure at its end. Cloud pressed a button, and a small section of the platform lowered him down. After observing that there were no lookouts, Cloud carefully proceeded towards the building. He found the door unlocked, and carefully slipped inside.

He found himself in a deserted metal hallway. The hall forked off to the right, and also continued a short distance in front of him, with a series of doors. He walked forward to try one of the doors, but heard a sound coming from the door straight in front of him. Before he could react, a ShinRa soldier stepped out. The gold stripes on his shoulders identified him as a lieutenant.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing???" demanded the soldier. Cloud cursed internally, mind racing to devise a way of getting out of this situation without alerting the entire city to his presence.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked as casually as he could, stalling for time as he struggled to think of a plan.

"You dolt! You're out of uniform, and the parade's about to start!"

Cloud breathed a mental sigh of relief. This soldier thought that he was one of them, about to march in the president's inaugural parade. He quickly saluted. "Yes, sorry sir!" he said promptly.

"Well? What made you so late???" demanded the soldier.

"Er..." said Cloud, as his mind once again kicked into high gear to come up with a plausible excuse. The soldier shook his blue-helmeted head. "Never mind, I'll deal with you later! Just get in there and get changed, on the double!" He pointed back to the room from which he had emerged. Cloud saluted and hurried in. It was a small, smelly locker room. After a quick search, he came up with a uniform which fit him well enough. He deftly donned the uniform, which struck him as odd, seeing as he had never worn one before. He was stuffing his street clothes into his backpack when a problem struck him: just what would he do with his backpack and sword when marching? Such anomalies would be quickly noticed among a legion of otherwise identical soldiers. He picked up the items in question and walked back into the hallway.

"Hey, you still don't have your helmet and rifle!" said the lieutenant, waiting in the hallway. "And what are you doing with all that shit?"

"Just dropping it off outside, sir," said Cloud. "Some asshole keeps stealing stuff from the locker room." He figured that his comrades would come the same way and pick up his supplies.

"Dammit! We don't have time for this!" said the lieutenant. Cloud opened the door, dropped his pack and sword outside, and hurried back into the locker room to don his helmet and rifle. "Finally!" said the soldier when Cloud re-emerged. "Now c'mon! If we're late, it's your ass!" Cloud saluted, and they hurried out one of the side doors onto the streets of Upper Junon.

Cloud's mind worked as quickly as his feet as he ran, evaluating his situation. His group had been left behind, but they were sure to follow, and finding his gear, they would assume that he was somewhere within the city. But how would they find him? He cursed inwardly. But what choice did he have? He could have knocked out the soldier, but then his regiment would have wondered why their lieutenant was missing, and he was too small for Cloud to fit into his uniform. His only real option to avoid detection was to leave his comrades and join this parade. At least he would get close to Rufus this way, and be able to see if Sephiroth would appear. But what then? The five of them together would have little enough chance against Sephiroth. What would Cloud alone, without his sword or Materia, be able to do? "Well, too late to back out now. Just along for the ride," Cloud thought grimly, as he shook off his contemplations to take stock of his surroundings. Junon, at least along this street, appeared to be composed mainly of generic black-faced high rise buildings. The morning sky was still scarlet from the rising sun, which didn't seem the most auspicious omen for the new president. The rousing march music was growing closer, and Cloud could now hear the murmurs and occasional cheers of an excited crowd. Nevertheless, the lieutenant ran on through the streets, Cloud following closely on his heels. They soon found the regiment of identical blue-clad ShinRa soldiers standing around, awaiting their leader's arrival.

"Bout time," muttered one soldier.

"What was that?" demanded the lieutenant. No one spoke up. "I'm only late thanks to this pile of shit!" he said, gesturing to Cloud. Cloud heard sounds of skepticism from the men. "Fall in!" The soldiers immediately started to form ranks of ten. Cloud suddenly realized another problem with his plan. There were already the proper number of soldiers here; he would have no place in formation. Thinking fast, he maneuvered around the edge of the group, by a dark alley. He silently approached one of the backmost soldiers, who had his back turned to him, and deftly snapped his neck. He deposited the corpse in the alleyway, feeling slight conscience pangs at the cold murder. Well, it was what had to be done. The faceless man hadn't necessarily been evil, but he had been on the wrong side, and unfortunately, that was enough to warrant his death. Cloud left such thoughts behind with the corpse as he joined the ranks. "Move out!" yelled the lieutenant at the head, and they started marching down the street. The sounds of the band and crowds grew steadily louder until Cloud was sure that the parade lay right around the corner. And indeed, when the regiment came to a halt at a wide alleyway, Cloud looked through to see legions of soldiers marching by in beat to the music he had been hearing all morning.

"Dammit! We're late!" said the lieutenant. "Okay, there should be a gap in the lines where we should be. When that gap gets here, we rush out and look like we've been there all along. Got it?" There were murmurs of assent and derision from the soldiers, followed by several minutes of inactivity as they listened to the upbeat march. "Pretty catchy, actually," remarked Cloud.

"It was at first," said the soldier next to him. "But I've kinda gotten tired of it with those guys practicing it all week."

"True," said Cloud.

"Alright! This is it!" said the lieutenant. "Follow me!" And with that, they shouldered their rifles and marched through the alley and straight into an exuberant parade. Cloud tried to keep his head straight, but he couldn't help looking around a little at the ecstatic crowds, standing on the streets and leaning out of windows, holding colorful signs and banners, tossing confetti, and wildly cheering platoon after platoon of ShinRa troops. But of course the big attraction was the presidential car which Cloud could see in front of several regiments ahead. Rufus stood in the backseat of the open car, looking the part of a young, glamorous president in his white suit, red hair combed in a stylish wave to the side. He waved to the adoring crowds on both sides with the same casual air he had taken with Cloud back at ShinRa H.Q. Cloud clenched his free fist, wishing that he was crashing Rufus' party instead of participating in it. But he was stuck in this ShinRa uniform, marching alongside several thousand other ShinRa uniforms. He had been somewhat nervous about his ability to march, seeing as SOLDIERs were exempted from such mundane drilling, but he found that he had an apparent natural affinity for it. "Only leaves about a thousand other things to worry about," thought Cloud, as he let his feet carry him forward to the beat of the music.

After about thirty minutes, the parade passed out of the main city. The crowds grew scarcer, and eventually disappeared entirely. Looking out to his left, Cloud could see the endless expanse of ocean, glittering prettily in the rising sun. The music soon stopped, and the parade abruptly halted. Looking up ahead, Cloud could see that Rufus had disembarked from his car, and was now talking to Heidegger from the meeting in the headquarters. But Cloud was too far away to hear what they were saying, and the two soon entered a nearby cable car, which descended down to a lower level of the city. All the soldiers started to disperse. "Not so fast!" said Cloud's lieutenant as his regiment started to break up. "Someone high up noticed that we were late, so we're being ordered to replace Regiment 485 to send off President Rufus at the docks at 1000, without break!" There were audible groans, at which Cloud grinned. This lieutenant clearly wasn't the best at training a disciplined group of soldiers. "I don't want to hear it!" shouted the lieutenant. "We'll take the shortcut through Underwater Operations! Move out, on the double!"

"Underwater Operations?" Cloud asked of the soldier next to him as they ran.

"Yeah, the Underwater Reactor, the Submarine Base and all that. You've never been assigned down there?"

"Not yet," said Cloud. Soon they entered a large rounded metal building. "That's the way to the Underwater Reactor right there," said the soldier as they passed by a long hallway extending down to their left. Cloud nodded, and they ran on, out of the building and down a flight of steps.

Cloud found that their shortcut had been quite effective, as they made it to the docks before Rufus' cable car had finished its slow but direct descent from above. In front of them a large luxury vessel rocked gently in the water. "Double line formation! And do this right! I don't need to tell you what'll happen to your careers if the President doesn't like it!" ordered the lieutenant, sounding winded. The soldiers hastened into formation and stood at attention as the cable car reached the bottom. Rufus, Heidegger, and, to Cloud's surprise, Tseng stepped out. They walked forward to overlook the regiment. The lieutenant, clearly nervous, wheeled around to face the trio, and saluted them along with the rest of his regiment. He then led the regiment in a long series of complicated maneuvers with their rifles, twirling, shouldering, adjusting, and tossing them. Once again, Cloud was surprised to find that he was able to flawlessly perform these actions, easily keeping up with his current comrades as if his body remembered these soldiering skills from a past life.

Finally, the soldiers shouldered their rifles and once again saluted their superiors. Rufus grinned and offhandedly saluted back before walking off with Heidegger and Tseng. When they had disappeared, the lieutenant turned to face them. "Good job, men! The President was pleased, so we get to live another day!"

"And get a bonus!" called one of the soldiers.

"Possibly!" said the lieutenant happily. "Very well, meet up back at the barracks at 1400. Until then, you're free. Dismissed!" The soldiers promptly broke ranks and dispersed. Cloud walked briskly off after Rufus and company, who were making for a ramp leading up to the large boat's entrance.

"So five soldiers were killed?" said Heidegger loudly. Tseng hushed him. "Quiet! We can't let word of Sephiroth's appearance get out! Not only would the citizens panic, but Strife and those terrorists would be onto us as well!"

"Bah!" said Heidegger dismissively. "We'll crush them easily!"

"The last time you took them for granted, they infiltrated ShinRa headquarters itself," said Rufus. This clearly took the wind out of Heidegger's sails. The new President shook his head. "Between AVALANCHE, this Sephiroth bullshit and now Hojo's disappearance, my old man sure as hell left me with enough problems."

Cloud backed off as the three ascended the ramp onto the boat. So Sephiroth was here after all. Not only that, but Professor Hojo had apparently vanished. Rufus indeed did have a plethora of problems in the beginning of his reign.

Cloud noticed that the large cargo doors of the ship had been opened, and workers were now loading crates of supplies onboard. By the amount of supplies, Cloud guessed that the ship was heading across the Tir Ocean. He was about to leave when he noticed something strange about one of the boxes being loaded onboard. A familiar, waving red tail hung out from the top...

Now came a decision. Would he stowaway onboard this ship with Red XIII, without any evidence that the rest of the team was onboard? He had come to trust the creature greatly in the events of the past few weeks; now was when he discovered whether or not this trust had been well placed. Trying to look nonchalant, Cloud strolled into the cargo bay of the ship and, when no one was looking, ducked in between some large crates. The cargo door slammed shut after about twenty minutes, eliminating all natural light in the hold as artificial lights flickered on overhead. In another half-hour the ship rumbled and moaned as it left port and started into the ocean. For better or for worse, Cloud was leaving the continent.

So I cut that crap with the dolphin. Worked in the game, but a little silly for a more serious interpretation. And I also cut any of Cloud running around freely in Junon. While I would've liked to have him peek in on Rude in the bar (in case you haven't noticed yet, I like Rude), I was feeling lazy, plus it just didn't really fit in. Other than that, I think this is more or less pretty much straightforward stuff from the game, as much as it ever is from me. And coming soon: Jenova... heh heh heh. Still trying to figure out what I'll do with that. I guess you'll find out, won't you?

Celtic Guardian 7: No, haven't heard of this Dirge of Cerberus thing that I recall. Heard about some movie concerning FFVII a while back, but that's it. Are they related?


	27. The Destructor Awakens

The Destructor Awakens

The large ship rolled gently on the ocean waves as it steamed slowly across the Tir Ocean which separated the Mynne and Chaudre continents. Cloud was surprised to find this regular motion producing a nauseous sensation in him. He couldn't remember ever getting motion sickness or seasickness, but here it was. He opted to take a walk around to try to get his mind off of his stomach. He emerged from his hiding place to take a look around the cargo hold. There were two soldiers in sight, one slowly walking around, the other standing guard in front of a rounded door. There was no sign of Red XIII. Something struck Cloud as odd about the walking guard. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something in the man's gait seemed off. Cloud slowly approached the soldier, rifle in hand.

"You call that a patrol, soldier???" Cloud said authoritatively. The soldier jumped, turning to face him. "Cloud? Is that you?" said a familiar voice from under the mask, the same voice he had heard when recovering in the church. He grinned. So Red XIII had taken the rest of them along after all. "Think I'd miss a cruise like this?" he said.

"Oh, I knew you'd make it!" said Aeris happily. She made to hug him, but he quickly and roughly rebuked her. "Do you really think soldiers would be behaving like that?" he hissed, nodding towards the man guarding the door.

"Oh...right," she said, taken aback. "So what happened to you? We saw your stuff just lying right outside those barracks, and...oh! Did you see that airship back in Junon???" she said, instantly changing subjects with a feminine non-sequitor.

"Kinda hard to miss," said Cloud, remembering the massive flying machine.

"Wasn't it AMAZING? I never imagined that even ShinRa would make something so big! Not only that, but something that big that's supposed to fly!"

"Yeah, you'd think they'd start a little bit smaller, wouldn't you?"

A faraway look came into Aeris' eyes. "Cloud, do you think I could ever ride on it?"

He grinned. Here they were, in the middle of ShinRa's elite forces guarding the President, and all she could think of was riding in that airship. "I'll take you someday."

"Would you really???" said Aeris happily. "Oh, I can't wait! Promise me you will, Cloud?" Cloud cocked an eyebrow, thankfully invisibly behind his mask. He had meant it as a joke, but Aeris seriously expected him to somehow obtain the prize of ShinRa's industry and take her for a joy ride. "Despite what you may think, I can't do everything," he thought, but to his surprise found himself agreeing to her proposal. He could almost see her dazzling smile as she replied "I'm looking forward to it! Anyway, so what did happen to you?" Cloud promptly launched into his explanation of how he was drafted into the ShinRa army, concluding with the overheard conversation of Rufus, Heidegger, and Tseng. "So Sephiroth was in Junon after all?" she said thoughtfully. "Why didn't he kill Rufus then?"

"I dunno. Maybe he isn't really after Rufus."

"But then why would he be in Junon in the first place?" To this Cloud had no answer. "And what about Hojo disappearing?"

"That's all they said. Just that he'd up and vanished. Guess there wasn't much left for him there, what with his precious specimen gone and all," replied Cloud, earning him a sharp slap in the arm from Aeris. "What? It's true!" protested Cloud.

"I'd appreciate not being referred to as a 'specimen', if you don't mind. I've had enough of being treated as a science experiment for one lifetime."

"Gotcha," said Cloud. "So where's the rest of the gang?"

"I don't know," said Aeris with a shrug. "After we found out that the president was going to be here, we all decided to get aboard, but we split up. Tifa and I snuck on together, so she's around here somewhere. I don't know if Barret and Red XIII even made it."

"I saw Red XIII in one of the crates," said Cloud.

"Good! So that just leaves Barret..." There was a solemn moment of silence as they both realized the likelihood of Barret making it aboard without going into a rage and killing anybody. "I'll look for him," said Cloud. "You just hang out down here and stay out of trouble okay?"

"Um, yes sir! I'll just continue my patrol!" said Aeris, with a sloppy salute and a giggle. Cloud shook his head as he walked off. He nodded towards the guard as he walked up nearby flight of stairs out of the cargo hold

He emerged onto the main deck, near the bow. The endless waves surrounding him on all sides were blue, the sky bluer. A fresh sea breeze was a welcome change from the stale air down below, though now that Aeris wasn't around to distract him, his nausea returned in full force. Cloud could feel himself staggering slightly as he crossed the deck.

"Hey, what's the matter with you?" asked a soldier standing nearby. "Seaman's gotta have pep!"

"Leave me alone," Cloud muttered.

"I got just the thing for ya!" said the soldier, producing a flask of unidentifiable red liquid. "Invisible Alpha! This shit'll perk ya right up, gua-ran-teed!" Cloud grabbed for the flask, but the man quickly withdrew it from his reach. "Whoa there, buddy! This is good stuff, I can't just be givin' it away!"

In his present mood, Cloud would just as soon ripped this bastard's lungs out and served them to him in his own helmet for a bowl, but a voice in the back of his head told him that this wouldn't be the best of ideas. "How much?" he growled.

"Just 150 gil and it's all yours!" The drink was ludicrously overpriced, but Cloud was in no mood to continue this conversation. He fished out the money and gave it to the soldier, who duly handed over the drink. "Enjoy, man!" he said. Cloud mentally flicked him off as he walked off. After glancing around to ensure that no one was looking, he removed his helmet to quaff down the drink. He suddenly burst into coughing as the red liquid burned his throat all the painful way down. He was about to go throw caution to the wind and the asshole soldier overboard when he found that he did indeed feel somewhat better. His fatigue from the long day of running around Junon vanished, as did his seasickness in large part.

"Psst!" Cloud looked up to see a soldier on the platform above him. His heart stopped as he realized that this man had seen him with his helmet off, and might not be as ignorant as the idiot lieutenant about his identity. Re-donning his helmet, Cloud climbed up the ladder to face the soldier. They stared each other down for several seconds before the man burst into laughter.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist!" said Tifa.

"Dammit Tifa, you scared the shit out of me!" said Cloud.

"Sorry, sorry! So what happened to you after you left us?"

Cloud didn't feel like repeating his story again. "Later. Have you seen Barret?"

"No, just Aeris." Cloud swore, a sense of foreboding overtaking him. If Barret had made a scene back in Junon, it was only so long until Rufus realized something was up and ordered a full search of the ship. Without another word he leapt down from the platform and walked briskly towards the stern of the ship. He passed another soldier, standing against the rail and watching the waves, and approached a huge man in a white sailor outfit, strangely the first he had seen so far. As the man turned to face him, the first thing Cloud noticed was his lack of a right hand, and then the familiar face. He breathed a sigh of relief. "So you made it," they both said at once. Irritated, they both promptly initiated a glaring match. But Barret soon shook his head.  
"I got your stuff here," he said, handing Cloud his sword and backpack, which were sitting at his feet. "Look in there," he said, turning back to where he was facing before Cloud had approached. He was looking through a window, into a luxurious office room, where Rufus and Heidegger stood talking. "So close, but we can't do a damn thing..." said Barret, clenching his fist. As if he heard this, Heidegger threw his head back and starting laughing uproariously, and Rufus started laughing into a hand as well. "Son of a bitch! How can they jes' go off laughin' like that?!? Cause o' them, Wedge, Biggs, Jessie...all o' Sector 7...DAMMIT! I CAN'T FUCKIN' TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!" yelled Barret, and wrenched his gun-arm out of his backpack. "Barret, no!" said Cloud, struggling to keep him from attaching it. Cloud was strong, but in a straight battle of muscle against Barret he had no chance. Barret slammed the weapon onto his arm with a metallic click and took aim straight at Rufus's head...

"Attention! Attention! There is an unidentified stowaway on board!" said the speakers as the klaxons started to blare. "Shit!" said Cloud as he and Barret threw themselves to the deck. Except for his unloaded parade rifle, he was unarmed, but he still didn't intend to make it easy on them.

"Repeat, there is an unidentified stowaway in the cargo hold! All available troops report to the cargo hold at once!"

"'Ey, it ain't us!" said Barret in relief. But the fear in Cloud's heart did not release its icy grip. "Aeris and Red XIII were down there..." he said.

"Shit, man! C'mon!" said Barret, and they raced back towards the bow of the ship only to be confronted by two soldiers running straight for them. Barret raised his gun.

"Barret, no!" said Tifa's voice.

"It's us!" said Aeris. They yanked off their helmets as they all came together.

"Are you all right?" said Cloud. Aeris nodded.

"What 'bout Red XIII???" said Barret.

"I, too, am fine," said Red XIII, suddenly leaping down from the top of the cabin in which Rufus and Heidegger had been.

"Damn, man! Give us some warnin' first!" exclaimed Barret. "How'd ya get up there, anyway? Cloud said you was down there!"

"You humans are terribly unobservant. It was quite a simple matter to slip up here undetected," said Red XIII coolly. They were all too relieved at finding each other safe to take offense.

"So we're all okay, and we haven't been found out," said Cloud. "Aeris, they didn't see you?"

"No, I just ran up as everyone else was going down," said Aeris. "No one stopped me or even questioned me."

"Then who did they find down there?" said Tifa. Cloud's stomach promptly re-sank. "Sephiroth..."

"No!" said Aeris.

"But we never even saw him in Junon! Why would he be here?" said Tifa. Cloud quickly explained.

"Shit..." said Barret.

"We do not know that it is Sephiroth," said Red XIII. "It could be anybody."

"Do you really doubt it?" said Cloud. Red XIII hesitated a moment, then shook his head.

"So this is it," said Aeris, voice trembling. Cloud slowly nodded. "Are we ready?"

But they clearly weren't. When they had agreed to hunt down Sephiroth, they had been sitting comfortably in the Kalm Inn, still on a high from escaping ShinRa. The gravity of the situation was just now striking home: they were about to fight the most powerful warrior in the world.

"I'm...ready," said Aeris haltingly.

"Yeah. After all, he didn't kill you before, did he?" said Tifa, trying to crack a smile and failing miserably.

"I...I am not ready to die," said Red XIII quietly. They all turned to him in shock, their own fears forgotten. "There is too much left for me to do in this world..."

"Ey, what's all this shit 'bout dyin'???" demanded Barret, the familiar fire in his eyes. "Who said we gonna die? There's five of us, an' only one of him, right? Plus he's got all those soldiers fightin' him already! There's only one person gonna be dyin' today, and that's that pansy-ass psycho bitch Sephiroth!" Cloud had to give him credit. Though he was clearly just as afraid as all of them, Barret had still managed to give a rousing inspirational speech. At least it would have been rousing any other day. Cloud reached up to clap a hand roughly on Barret's massive shoulder before turning to the stairway down to the underworld. "Let's go," he said, starting the slow march to doom.

"Cloud," said Aeris, latching onto his arm. Those unearthly eyes wavered with terror, shaking Cloud's heart with pity. "Yeah?" he said quietly.

"Tell me we'll be alright," she said desperately. "Just tell me we'll make it,"

"You just heard it from Barret," he said.

"I want to hear it from you," she said, voice tremulous. "Please, just tell me we'll be okay."

"We'll be okay."

She stared up at him for a moment more, then threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. He knew he should, like he had done how many times before, but this time he couldn't turn her away. She needed him. But in an eternity and a moment all at once Barret was quietly saying "C'mon, man." He had to go first. No matter how foolish the reason, he was their leader. They all needed him. He gently pulled Aeris off of him. "Hey," he said as she started to move back. She turned back to him. "We'll be okay." She stared into his eyes for a moment, then gave him a small but genuine smile, and that was what he needed. Unsheathing his sword in one furious motion, Cloud strode down the stairs to meet his fate.

The door Cloud had noticed earlier was now unguarded, and hung open. Holding his sword before him, Cloud cautiously advanced. As he had suspected, he might well have walked into a morgue. The bodies of Rufus' men lay strewn all about like child's discarded toy soldiers. He heard the girls gasp behind him, but the time for reassurances was past. "Where are you, you sick bastard?" Cloud muttered, as he advanced into the middle of the room. It was a large, relatively empty square room, with catwalks leading around the edges above them. "He's around here somewhere," said Cloud. "Keep your eyes open."

They stood in silence, the only sound being the drone of the ship's engine just below them. But the drone was tuned out, as were the sight of the soldiers and the smell of death. All awareness was of the impending confrontation. The tension was unbelievable. Cloud couldn't help but think that Sephiroth was just building up the suspense for his big entrance.

"Cloud!" shrieked Tifa, pointing to the front of the room. Cloud looked, and gaped. Where there had been nothing before there was now a glint of silver hair on the floor. The glint enlarged itself, and soon an entire head of hair was emerging from the floor itself. And soon the face to match, the face that had smirked as it turned and moved through the flames of his dying home. The rest of the killer's body continued to come up from nothingness, and soon before them stood Sephiroth. He appeared just as Cloud remembered. Tall, muscular, inhumanly foreboding, with long black leather coat, pants, and boots, and silver hair flowing majestically down his back. His head was thrown back and arms out at his sides. He seemed completely oblivious to their presence.

"Sephiroth!" said Cloud as soon as he was able. He didn't respond, or indeed react in any way. "Sephiroth!!!"

"After a long sleep," said Sephiroth, the voice so familiar, and yet dull and alien. "The time...is now..."

"Sephiroth! Answer me!!!" Cloud commanded. Finally Sephiroth slowly, mechanically lowered his head, gazing unseeingly before him. This undid Cloud as much as anything. The look in Sephiroth's eyes was listless and distant, as if the man wasn't really inside the body. Even when he had gone crazy and burned Nibelheim, Sephiroth still had given a disturbing impression of intelligence and sanity. The stare and smile that he had given Cloud before walking into the wall of fire was not that of a madman, but that of a cold-blooded killer, fully aware of his actions, and reveling in them. So who then was this drone who had Sephiroth's body and voice?

"Who...are you?" said Sephiroth dully.

"You know me!" said Cloud. "I'm Cloud Strife! We used to be friends, until we went psycho and killed my entire hometown!"

Sephiroth stared lifelessly for a few moments, not even a glint of recognition in his dead eyes. And then it was like a switch had suddenly been flicked. His head straightened, a hard, but lively glow came into his green eyes, and his mouth lifted in a smirk. "Of course I remember you," he said smoothly. "I probably shouldn't waste myself like this, but I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Cloud.  
"Why, I want to be on hand to witness your first meeting," said Sephiroth, eyes glinting with malicious amusement. "Oh, Mother!"

A dark mist started to filter into the room from nowhere, all flowing to settle in the air right between Cloud and his enemy. It started to take shape, but no shape that Cloud recognized. And it just kept coming, flooding from all corners of the room, coalescing before Cloud's eyes in a vaguely humanoid outline. Cloud was suddenly involuntarily reminded of the metal statue of an eerily beautiful woman that had been Jenova's prison back in Nibelheim. But what was forming before him was hardly an image of beauty. The figure was about twice as tall as a normal human, and instead of separate feet had what one base resting on the floor, like a flowing dress. The figured narrowed above this, but then widened again at the top to freakishly wide, a sick exaggeration of an hourglass figure. The figure appeared to have no arms, only a single tentacle where its right arm should be. As the mist solidified, the figure took on a pale pinkish hue, as that of a newborn mammal that had yet to grow its fur. A snakelike neck, impossibly long and flexible, formed atop the ridiculously wide shoulders. And finally, the head materialized at the end of the serpent. A thin line of a mouth, slits of nostrils, and two slanted, closed eyes. And then the eyes opened.

Five years ago but no it was more truly twenty-one or was it could he really be sure could anyone surely stars exploded in his face in his eyes in his head in his mind was this madness was this Jenova was this Sephiroth was this Cloud who is Cloud who is Sephiroth who is Jenova what is Jenova what is Sephiroth what is Cloud Cloud is Sephiroth is Jenova is Jenova is Jenova Jenova is Jenova is Jenova Jenova Jenova

"Cloud!!!" screamed Aeris as he suddenly went down before a blow had even been struck. Jenova turned her hideous glittering black eyes to this human, distraught over the loss of her leader. She lashed out at Aeris with her tentacle, throwing her backwards. Hearing battlecries, she looked up to see the other girl and beast charging towards it. Her black eyes sparked as they charged with energy, and twin laser beams shot out to strike both attackers, instantly downing them.

And just like that Barret was the only one left on his feet. Tifa, Aeris, and Red XIII were recovering from their blows, and Cloud by all appearances seemed to be down for the count. Not a good time to be having one of his freak-out sessions! It was all up to him.

"C'mon, you freaky-ass piece o' shit! Try some o' this!" said Barret, letting loose with his gatling gun. Jenova turned to him and give a serpentine hiss, revealing all too long and sharp teeth. She was angered by the attack, but didn't seem to be taking much damage. He needed a stronger punch, and fast. Reaching into his pack, he drew out a small cannon and snapped it on top of his gun-arm. "C'mon, baby. Come to daddy," he said, leveling his modified gun-arm as the abomination drew closer, seeming to glide across the floor. It opened its mouth impossibly wide, seemingly twice as tall as the size of the whole head, showing again those lethal fangs as it prepared to use them. But this was just what Barret had been waiting for. "EAT THIS!" he roared, and fired a grenade from his launcher. The shell sailed through the air to enter straight into Jenova's mouth.

A miniature inferno exploded inside Jenova's head. The creature fell back, shrieking shrilly as its head whipped around in agony atop that snakelike neck. "Yeah, tha's right!" said Barret, as he removed the attachment to let it clatter on the floor and resumed his gatling gun onslaught.

"Good shot," remarked Red XIII, who walked up beside him. Tifa and Aeris soon appeared as well, weakened, but still more or less intact. He had saved them!

"What happened to Cloud?" said Aeris worriedly.

"I believe we have more immediate problems to solve, Aeris," said Red XIII, "as our enemy is not yet defeated."

Jenova glared with rage at the human male. He had, through some weapon unknown to her, managed to cause her serious pain. And she intended to pay him back in due kind. Her enemies were all standing in a group, a very foolish move. Extending its tentacle, it shot out a laser beam, which it quickly whipped laterally across the group. The smaller girl and, to Jenova's satisfaction, the man were struck by the beam, and thrown backwards, small fires exploding on their torsos. The beast and other girl, however, managed to dodge.

Red XIII, go!" said Tifa. He obeyed, rushing towards Jenova. She turned her tentacle towards him, as she prepared once more to strike.

"Thunder!" cried Tifa, and some magic of her own launched out to strike Jenova's extended tentacle. The creature recoiled in pain slightly, enough to give Red XIII the opening he needed. In an instant he was all over her, tearing, rending, and biting the foul flesh all over. Jenova roared with rage as she struggled to reach the beast flying all over her body, but he was too fast. Tifa followed her comrade, and launched herself into Jenova with a flying kick. She leapt back to dodge the inevitable counter-attack by the tentacle, but was right back in with kicks and punches flying furiously.

The impudent humans were attacking her at point blank range, and succeeding! Screaming furiously, Jenova called upon her elemental of choice. Flames erupted from all over her body, engulfing both Jenova and her foes. Jenova hissed with laughter as she watched the two enemies stagger backwards, wreathed with fire. She summoned the flames once more, and shot them forth again at the large man for good measure. He had been starting to recover, but was instantly back on the ground, writhing.

Aeris struggled to her feet, leaning heavily on her staff. They had rallied briefly thanks to Barret's grenade bomb, but before and since Jenova had dominated this fight. Now Cloud was inexplicably unconscious, Barret, Red XIII, and Tifa struggling to douse the flames all over their bodies. And Jenova was advancing to deliver the deathblow to all of them. First it had been just Barret left to defend them. Now it was up to her. She considered her weapons. She had her Fire, Restore, and the newfound Shiva Materia, the latter of which would no doubt deliver considerable damage to this monster. But certainly not enough. They needed more than a temporary reprieve gained by a strong attack. They needed a full revitalization. Aeris closed her eyes, and clutched her hands to her heart, reaching deep inside her for the scarce-used power that she knew instinctively she had, that all Cetra had. Green light started to swirl around her as she pulled her energy from deep within. She felt the deep gash the laser had cut into her healing itself. A strong but soothing wind started pouring forth from her, reaching out towards all her allies. The flames slowly sapping the life of Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII were quenched, and their burns and other wounds healed.

Cloud smiled as a soft caress on his cheek awakened him from the nightmares. "Aeris..." he whispered, but as his eyes slowly opened he found Aeris to be on the other end of the room, near the door. Facing her was the Destroyer herself, Jenova, now advancing on the girl that it knew had just healed all of them. Cloud was instantly back on his feet, rushing towards Jenova with sword drawn. Just as it was about to unleash fiery death on Aeris, Cloud was there, slicing once, twice, thrice with his sword, each cut digging deeper then the last with unbelievable speed into the creature's undefended backside. Jenova screeched with pain at this unexpected attack. It whirled around 180 degrees, lashing out at Cloud with its tentacle, but Cloud was too fast, leaping back to the other side to rejoin his comrades.

"Cloud! You're okay!" said Aeris joyously.

"Later," he commanded, as Jenova turned to face them all once more.

Jenova re-evaluated the situation. So the puppet had overthrown her influence, and was back in the fight. This would change matters. Unless she could again incapacitate him. Jenova prepared one of the most powerful techniques available to her in her weakened state, and focused it on the leader.

"What's the plan, Cloud?" said Aeris, facing the monster. But Cloud didn't respond. When Aeris turned, she saw that he was standing completely still, not even breathing. "Cloud?" she said uncertainly. But he didn't stir, or respond in the least. She tentatively touched him. He felt terribly cold.

"It is no use, Aeris," said Red XIII. "He has been frozen in time."

"Frozen in time?" Aeris repeated dumbly.

"Ignore him!" said Red XIII as Jenova charged. The two remaining frontline fighters charged to meet her. She easily swept Red XIII aside with her tentacle, but Tifa made it through. She leapt up into the air, whirling around in an airborne roundhouse kick that struck Jenova squarely on the jaw. Jenova hissed and lashed at her attacker, but Tifa jumped over the tentacle. Before Jenova could line up another strike, Barret opened fire, pestering her with the constant barrage of bullets. But the unarmed fighter had to be dealt with first. She lashed straight down at the girl, who predictably dodged to the side. But Jenova's head was waiting there, snapping viciously. Tifa cried out as she went down, a bloody chunk torn out of her side. Jenova proceeded to shoot a jet of flame at Barret, who barely managed to dodge.

"Little help here, Aeris?!?" he shouted, finally snapping Aeris out of her reverie about Cloud's new disability. Cloud or no, they would have to fight this creature until they could revive him. She took stock of the situation. Tifa was down, Barret was dodging flames, and Red XIII was up and charging. But Jenova whirled her elastic neck to bring her head to bear on him, and shot double lasers at him. Both connected, and Red XIII, too, was down. The head instantly turned back to Barret to shoot another jet of flame. Barret was still on the floor from diving to avoid the last attack, and would never dodge it. But out of nowhere a figure leapt in front of him, holding out a huge shuriken to block the flames. Aeris stared in shock. It was the teenage Materia thief from the forest! The girl cried out in pain, but deftly rolled on the floor, quickly smothering what flames had gotten through to her. "That hurt, you bitch!" she said shrilly. "Try some yourself!" She put forth her arms and, to Aeris' amazement, an identical jet of flame leapt forth from her hands. Jenova screamed as her pink head was quickly burned red, and lashed out blindly for the girl. But by then Barret was up, firing his gun-arm into the flailing tentacle, which Jenova recoiled in pain. Aeris then rejoined the fight, shooting a Fire spell to augment the damage of the girl's flamethrower attack.

Jenova shrieked piercingly at this renewed onslaught. She had been asleep for too long, and had grown weak. If only she had access to her full powers, then she could really show these humans pain. But she had thrown every weapon she had at them, and still they kept coming. She had managed to cut their numbers down to two, but now this third girl had emerged and thrown her own attack back at her! Such insolence! Ignoring the continuous sting of the gunfire in her flank, she fired one laser and then another at the girl, but she was too fast, cartwheeling and leaping out of the way to land unscathed. But Jenova didn't let up, whipping out with her tentacle. This caught the girl as she was still airborne from her dodge, and hurled her back into the large male, bowling them both over. She turned her eyes to the final enemy: the Ancient.

Aeris quailed before the abomination's cold gaze. Once again, she was the only one left to oppose it. But she could no longer call upon her Healing Wind to restore her allies. It was up to her to finish this fight, and she knew she had only one weapon capable of doing that. Reaching into her dress, she clasped the amulet Priscilla had given them, muttering softly. The amulet started glowing a brilliant scarlet, and then started to rattle in her hand, a gentle vibration at first, gradually increasing into a rocking so violent she was afraid it would shatter. But she held on tight, focusing on the immensely powerful magic she was attempting to use. She was dimly aware of Jenova advancing towards her, bloodied jaws open and dripping, but she closed her eyes and thrust this out of her mind, concentrating all her attention and willpower on the incantation. The gem's glow became blinding, piercing through her closed eyelids, and it shook as if trying to leap out of her hands. She doggedly held on, but the Materia finally burst into shards. Her eyes opened, and she gasped as she saw Jenova's gaping maw coming right for her. Aeris shut her eyes again as the jaws snapped shut...but she felt nothing. Looking down, she saw Jenova's mouth pass straight through her as she started to fade away. "It worked!" she thought joyously as she disappeared from the world.

Shiva turned her attention to the physical plane as she felt the unmistakable call of a mage trying to summon her. It had been a long time, in human's terms anyway, since anyone had done so. She had thought the foolish mortals had forgotten altogether about the Guardians. But the one who was calling upon her wasn't the same as the peons who were currently infesting the Planet. This one was different...she retained a bit of the noble blood in her. Shiva smiled. So there was at least one of the Old Ones left. Suitably impressed with this last of the Cetra, Shiva obeyed her request.

Jenova whipped her head around in fury as she searched for her enemies. Every single one of them, even the incapacitated ones had disappeared! What had happened?

The air suddenly started to drop in temperature. It felt good at first, soothing the burns those audacious girls had inflicted. But the temperature drop continued into discomfort, and showed no signs of slowing. Jenova turned away from the wall near which the magic-wielding girl had stood to search for what was causing this. She saw crystals of ice forming on the walls of the far side of the chamber, and was about to shoot fire to disperse them when suddenly a huge cone of solid ice thrust itself out of the floor between the crystals. Floating motionless in the ice was a female figure of inhuman beauty. Her skin was flawless, a gentle cerulean blue in color. She was unclothed save for a white headdress, with two vine-like appendages extending from it down her back. Jenova stared confusedly at this newcomer, wondering what would happen next, when the woman's eyes opened.

Shiva burst free of the ice crystal, shattering it all around her as she rose to float in midair. Stretching her long unused physical muscles, she gazed down impassively at the being before her. It seemed vaguely familiar to her somehow, but its identity was not her concern. She calmly raised a hand, and all the ice that had formed in the room, from the walls, and from the remnants of her ice crystal started to coalesce in her palm. Soon there was a huge glowing orb of pure cold energy hovering at her fingertips. She leaned back as the orb continued to spark with power, then all at once thrust her hand forward and shot the energy at the enemy.

The projectile exploded into Jenova with the dazzling blue-white radiance of a thousand diamonds, and she gave an earth-rending scream. Far from being numbing, the wave of cold shot through her with the searing pain of a razor-sharp blade. She could actually feel her limbs as well as her internal organs freezing and becoming useless. With her last bit of consciousness before her brain, too, was knocked out, she told herself that she would do better when she had regained more of her original massive power.

Aeris reappeared and instantly collapsed to her knees, her mind and body exhausted from the battle. When she could she looked up, and saw nothing but the last remnants of a dark mist escaping from the chamber. "We...did it..." she gasped.

"Hell yeah!" said Barret, performing the Barret Dance. "Eat that, ya freaky monster bitch!" The thief gave an exuberant "Woohoo!" while leaping into the air and twirling around like a schoolgirl.

"Don't bother helping us or anything," said Tifa, clamping a hand to her badly bleeding side as she staggered to her feet.

"Shit! Sorry," said Barret as he rushed over to help her. And then Aeris remembered. Cloud! She rushed over to him, still in the precise same position as before.

"Yo, Aeris! Get over here with that healin' Materia!" called Barret from over by Tifa.

"But..."

"No buts! Spiky-ass didn' get hit once. He'll be alright!" Reluctantly, Aeris left Cloud standing frozen and wandered over to Barret. "Now go ahead an' heal Tifa, quick!" said Barret. Absently, she rose her hands, but her mind was too weary, and too focused on Cloud's series of ailments throughout the battle. Nothing happened.

"Dammit girl, gimme that!" said Barret, as he grabbed Aeris's staff and held it before him. The gem started to glow, and soon Tifa's wound was healed beyond the danger point, though Barret's skill with magic was insufficient to finish the job with one spell. He moved over to Red XIII, lying prone on the floor with severe burns from the dual laser hits. "Yo, get me one o' those phoenix drinks," ordered Barret. Tifa produced one from her backpack and Barret poured it into Red XIII's limp jaw. The creature soon started coughing and sputtering, and presently his eyes opened. "Jenova is...defeated?" he said weakly.

"Damn straight!" said Barret, as Tifa took Aeris's staff and healed the patient. Red XIII rose to sit on his haunches, gazing about him. "Well, our sylvan visitor is back," he said coolly.

"Yeah, what is she doing here?" said Tifa.

The girl indignantly placed her hands on her hips. "Well that's not the sort of welcome I would expect after saving your lives and all!"

"Yeah, she's right," said Barret. "Thanks a lot, kid."

"Kid?!?" exclaimed the girl.

"Yeah, kid! You said you're sixteen, didn' ya?"

"I stood in front of a flamethrower for you, and I'm still just 'kid'?!"

Sighing, Red XIII turned his attention to Cloud. "So he's still frozen, then."

"What happened to him?" said Aeris.

"A Time Stop spell, I imagine," said Red XIII, walking with a worried Tifa and Aeris over to him. "It should wear off any second now."

The next thing Cloud knew, Jenova had suddenly vanished. Now that the immediate danger was gone, the brief adrenaline rush that had fueled him earlier disappeared. The horror of his dark visions came back all in one horrible rush. Black through his veins, filling his eyes, his throat, his very soul...choking out his very identity...he promptly collapsed, trembling violently as he ripped at his flesh, trying to rid himself of the horrible virus.

"Cloud!" screamed Tifa and Aeris simultaneously as they rushed towards him. Tifa reached him first, holding his hands to the floor to keep him from hurting himself. But he fought with the strength of a madman, battering her away to free himself. "Help me here!" said Tifa desperately. Aeris tried, but she was far too weak to restrain the crazed Cloud.

"What can I do???" Aeris thought frantically, as Cloud continued to spill his own blood. Knowing nothing better, she went with her instinct and bent down over him. She gently ran a hand across his cheek. "Cloud, please wake up. Please, come back," she said softly.

Cloud smiled as a soft caress on his cheek awakened him from the nightmares. "Aeris..." he whispered. She gently smiled down at him, tears glistening in her wide eyes, and it occurred to him that after the hellish visions that had plagued him, her face was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wasn't thinking clearly: he felt light-headed and slow-witted, almost drunk. He was in the possession of another force controlling his mind, but this one was from inside him, and infinitely more pleasant. Half unaware of what he was doing as if in a dream, he slowly sat up, reaching out for her.

"Cloud?" Tifa's voice broke into his consciousness like an alarm bell. Cloud saw Aeris shoot her a glance of some sort. "Wha?" he said.

"Are you all right?" said Tifa anxiously.

"I...guess..." said Cloud. "What happened?"  
"Nothing, nothing at all," said Tifa.

Aeris glared at Tifa once more. Cloud needed to know what was happening to him, not have it hidden from him! "Um, Cloud?" she said. "You, um, passed out when Jenova first appeared, like you did when you saw her back in Midgar." Cloud nodded grimly, remembering the black-out session he had had upon peering into the metal prison. "And then, just now, you...started hurting yourself." Cloud slowly looked down to see his bloodied arms, the only injury he had sustained during the entire battle. "I...did this?" he said slowly.

"Cloud, it's okay," said Aeris, touching his arm reassuringly. "That Jenova just affects you in a way that she doesn't with all of us."

"Why?"

"Well...it must be because you have more history with her. You were pretty close to Sephiroth, right? And Jenova was a part of him."

"But why would that..."

"Don't worry about it, Cloud," said Tifa, running a hand through his hair. "It's over now, just try and forget it." Aeris was about ready to smack her. Cloud needed to figure out what was happening to him! "Cloud, you really need to think about--"

"No, Tifa's right," said Cloud, shaking his head. "I don't want to think about it."

"But--" started Aeris. But Cloud was already wiping his arms off and shakily rising to his feet. "What the hell is she doing here?" he said, looking at the teenage thief.

"Yeah, we never did find out why you're here," said Tifa, evidently eager to change the subject. Aeris fumed, but the opportunity had passed.

"I'm saving your butts, that's what I'm doing here!" said the girl. She launched into an account of the battle, greatly exaggerating her own part in it, but after a prompt and forceful interruption by Barret a more or less accurate version of the battle was laid out before Cloud. He nodded. "But that still doesn't explain why you're here in the first place."

The girl hesitated. "Well, I, um...followed you here."

"I KNEW IT!!!" exploded Barret. "Sneakin', thievin' little..."

"Hey, if I'd been here to steal from you, I would've done it and been gone!" retorted the girl. "You think I would've stuck around and fought that huge whatever-it-was if all I was here for was to screw you over?"

"Well, then why are you stowing away on the same ShinRa ship as are we?" asked Red XIII.

"D'uh! Cause I wanna go with you guys!"

"No way!" said Barret, waving a hand to the side. "No fuckin' way some damn pickpocket's comin' with us!"

"Well, she did prove that she was a good fighter..." said Aeris thoughtfully. "And today's showed us that we can certainly use another good fighter."

"See? Listen to the lady!" said the girl, nodding emphatically.

"Well, if you don't want to steal from us, then why do you want to come with us so badly?" said Tifa reasonably. The girl shrugged. "Something to do, ain't it? Besides, my home's pretty far west from here, and I wouldn't mind paying a visit back there. And you guys are going that way."

"Fen-Shi?" said Cloud. "I don't think that's on the agenda." She shrugged again. "Well, I'll get off when I feel like it."

"Hold on while we discuss this," said Cloud, and the group walked away to talk in a corner.

"Man, you know she's just in it ta rob us again!" said Barret.

"And I promise I won't try and rob you again!" said the girl from the other side of the room. Barret growled.

"I think she could be helpful, if we kept an eye on her," said Tifa.

"Two eyes, but yes," said Aeris. "She was pretty good out there."

"This girl does not seem evil," said Red XIII thoughtfully. "But I do sense something false about her."

"Course there's somethin' false! She's gonna rob us first chance she gets!" said Barret.

"Well, Cloud? What's the verdict?" said Aeris.

"If we don't take her, she may very well turn us over to ShinRa, just to pull a profit" he said grimly. "Seems like the type. So we'll take her. Just keep an extra close eye on your Materia."

"Man, don' say I didn' warn ya ..." said Barret ominously.

They turned back to the girl. "Alright, you can come along," said Cloud. The girl "Woohoo!"d again, leaping in the air.

"But if you try and rob us again, I promise you you'll regret it," said Cloud.

"Yeah, promise, promise!" said the girl. "So what's up, anyway?"

"What do you mean?" said Cloud.

"Um, HELLO? You're stowing away on the ShinRa president's ship, and you just got attacked by some huge freaky monster! What's goin' on here???"

Cloud considered. He hated telling anyone more about their mission, but if she was to go with them, she would have to know something. "We're after Sephiroth," he said simply.

"Sephiroth?!?" said the girl. "That SOLDIER who fought against Fen-Shi in the war???" Cloud nodded. "Alright, fine by me," said the girl darkly. "But what the hell was that monster?"

"An Ancient named Jenova, Sephiroth's mother," said Tifa.

"Um, I'm not so sure about the Ancient part," said Aeris. They turned to her. "Well, it just...didn't feel like one of the Cetra. It felt so alien, like it didn't even belong on this Planet."

"But the ShinRa reports all said Jenova was an Ancient, didn't they?" said Tifa.

"How many Cetra do you think anyone from ShinRa has met?" snapped Aeris, still peevish towards Tifa. "I'll tell you: two. My mother and me. And that Jenova sure didn't feel like either of us."

"But it's one of the Cetra of old, right?" Tifa shot back, irritated in turn by Aeris's sharp tone. "So it wouldn't be like you and your mother. It would be more powerful, and better!"

"Well if you'd rather have Jenova than me, then my guest!" spat Aeris. "But I'll tell you that she is NOT a Cetra!"

"'Ey!!!" said Barret. "We don' need none o' this shit! We're on the same side 'ere!"

"Never thought Barret would be the one stopping a fight," muttered Cloud, prompting a quiet laugh from Red XIII.

"What was that, spiky-ass???" demanded Barret. Cloud looked up at him, shrugging innocently.

"Um, okay..." said the girl, somewhat taken aback by her new team's sudden outbreak of infighting. "Well, I'm Yuffie Kussargi, ninja extraordinaire!" she said brightly.

"Cloud Strife."

"Red XIII."

"Barret Wallace," said Barret, still glaring at Cloud.

"Aeris Gainsborough." "Tifa Lockheart," said the girls, still peering at each other with venom in their eyes. An uncomfortable silence ensued. "So..." started Yuffie uncertainly, but she was saved the trouble of breaking the silence by the ship's loudspeaker. "We will be arriving at the dock of Costa del Sol in approximately five minutes. Please prepare for arrival."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Well, that was a chapter and a half. Actually more like two, seeing as most of my chapters are seven Word pages and this one ended up being fourteen. Consequently, I may very well forget something I want to comment on, but oh well. Foremost is Jenova: if you didn't notice, she was much more diminutive than in the game. That's because I plan to have her evolve physically as she regains her power. So expect a bigger, badder boss the next time (alliteration is fun!) Not that this one wasn't big: three Limit Breaks in one fight! (I don't really count Grenade Bomb, and other LB's that just involve using different weapons, as true LB's, but they are in the game, so whatever). Much more stuff goin' on in this chapter, of course. There's probably a law against packing as much foreshadowing into one chapter as I did here. Guess I'm just a rebel. Reviews seem to be tapering off, and consequently I cry myself to sleep every night. So review.

Emeraldjewel: Your idea would've worked, certainly, but no, guy at the door just got killed. Seph and Mom have superhuman powers, so they can find their way in without the door.

Dark ki: Yeah, I have fun with Barret. One of my favorite characters. Basically, I like the male characters except CloudCait Sith, and of course, Tifa. I've grown to like Rufus, Red XIII, and Aeris more as I've been writing this, which is interesting. As for help for your writing, well, I find this really easy to write. But even when I don't particularly feel like it, I sometimes just sit down and do it anyway, and eventually it starts flowing. You've just gotta make yourself write sometimes, even when you're feeling uninspired or, as is often my situation, lazy. Not much more I can tell ya.

The Person: But the Wutai side-quest is just that: a SIDE-quest, which doesn't really impact any of the main plots. As to whether or not I'll do it, you'll just have to wait n' see.


	28. Meet Me in Costal del Sol

Meet Me in Costa del Sol

The sailors of the ShinRa luxury liner ran left and right all about the deck, hurriedly making preparations for the President's docking at Costa del Sol. They were oblivious to the fate of their armed comrades below. They were equally oblivious to the fact that a group of dangerous anarchists, who had been stowing away under their very noses, had bailed and were now swimming towards the docks.

"Dammit, why we gotta swim? We were on a damn boat!" said Barret, struggling through the water with his handless arm.

"I told you already," said Cloud irritably. "I hardly think you all would stand up to inspection in a welcoming ceremony, which we would have been forced to serve in. Plus Yuffie and Red XIII don't even have disguises."

Barret cursed like the sailor whose suit he wore. "Fine, but if I drown, you're carryin' my ass in!"

"And neither of us would want that," said Cloud.

Thankfully, they had waited until the last minute to jump, and so didn't have far to swim. In just a few minutes they were clambering up onto an unoccupied pier, shucking off their soaked disguises and tossing them into the sea.

"Damn, sure is hot here!" said Barret. "But I'm sure glad to get rid o' this damn suit," he said as he removed the white sailor's outfit.

"Oh, too bad. I liked your sailor suit," said Aeris, a mischievous grin on her face. "You looked so cute in it."

"Whaddaya mean, 'cute'?!?" demanded Barret.

"Yeah Barret, why don't you use that for pajamas?" said Tifa, and the girls broke into giggles. Cloud smiled to himself as Barret exploded in overblown rage. It appears the two had made up whatever differences had emerged on the ship.

"What do you think, Cloud?" Aeris said, pulling a damp strand of hair away from her face. Cloud turned to Barret. "You looked like a bear wearing a marshmallow," he said in all seriousness, prompting another outburst from Barret and laughter from the rest.

"Fine! If you all like it so much, mebee I will keep it!" he said, stuffing the suit roughly into his backpack.

"Will you all kindly hurry changing?" said Red XIII, shaking water from his mane. "The heat here is drying my nose."

"Yeah, mine too!" said Yuffie, rubbing her nose. "What's takin' so long?"

"It's spiky-ass here! He won't take off his little soldier uniform!" said Barret, glaring at Cloud, who was standing stationary. "C'mon! Ya can't just be walkin' round the streets lookin' like a soldier when they all s'posed to be round here for the ceremony!"

"I don't have anything on underneath this," said Cloud quietly. "I had to change out of my clothes back at the barracks."

"Yeah, me too," said Aeris. "I couldn't very well wear a dress under these pants." Cloud glanced over at her and their eyes met. She gave him a strange look, partly amused and partly something else.

"Well, guess you're gonna give us a lil' show then!" said Barret. "Hurry up!"

"No!" exclaimed Cloud and Aeris simultaneously.

"I suggest that you forgo modesty for the sake of safety," said Red XIII. "We do not want to be caught in the middle of the ceremony."

"Look, I'll just put on my dress over this," said Aeris, pulling her dress out of her pack and hastily donning it. It bulged unusually due to the clothing underneath, but it would do.

"Good enough," said Cloud, as he removed the top of his uniform, only to find that he had his SOLDIER uniform underneath anyway. "Uh…whoops," he said, to Barret's furious outburst. He quickly stripped away the rest of the hated ShinRa uniform and replaced it was his black street clothes, though the denim was soaked and stiff. "Alright, let's move out." They crossed the pier to the mainland docks area. A platoon of ShinRa troops was standing stiffly at attention as the boat finished docking. A few civilians stood by awaiting the President's disembarking, though Cloud was surprised at the low attendance. Cloud and his comrades wove through the crowds to quickly escape the docks, and ended up on what appeared to be a main street of the city.

"Wow! Look at all the nightclubs! I'm gone!" said Yuffie excitedly. And suddenly Cloud saw why the crowd at the docks had been so scarce. Though the day was waning, this street was just coming to life. The rows of neon signs eagerly proclaiming their respective establishments as THE PLACE to be that night struck a jarring contrast to the weathered, old-fashioned yellow bricks paving the road. Eager crowds of young, fashionably dressed people stood in lines before large, tough looking bouncers at the front doors, who struck Cloud as mixes between Barret and Rude the Turk. Costa del Sol had a reputation for being the biggest party city on the continent, and it certainly didn't disappoint.

"You can do what you want," said Cloud to Yuffie. "But there should be a hotel somewhere around here, and after that battle, I think the rest of us are going to have an early night." The rest of the team murmured assents.

"Like hell she can do what she want!" exclaimed Barret. "She'll probably run right over to President Jackass himself and tell him 'bout us."

As much as Cloud ever hated to admit it, Barret had a point. Even if he ordered the girl to stick with them, he couldn't possibly keep an eye on her 24/7. It was time to play another card. He leaned in close to Yuffie. "You wouldn't do that to us, would you?" he said quietly, almost menacingly.

"No way!" said Yuffie, emphatically shaking her head.

"Good," said Cloud. "Because you'll find that we can be just as dangerous as ShinRa."

"Ya ever hear of AVALANCHE, little girl?" said Barret, quickly catching on to Cloud's tactic.

"Um, no…" said Yuffie, too taken aback by this sudden change in tone to remember to be indignant at Barret's condescension.

"Buncha terrorists who blew up coupla Mako reactors in Midgar, then broke into ShinRa H.Q. itself. Ring a bell?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"We're them."

Yuffie noticeably paled, taking a step back from the two grim-faced men. She looked to the girls for support, but they were turned away, making a point of not noticing the scene. Only Red XIII faced her, but he was no refuge, looking as impassive as the men.

"So whaddaya say? You our friend, or not?" said Barret, looming over her.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure I'm your friend!" said Yuffie quickly.

"Good. Now don' get into any trouble now!" said Barret, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

"Hey, waitaminute!" said Yuffie. "Where are you all going? I'm coming!"

Cloud smirked. "Glad to hear it. Like I said, we're looking for a hotel."

"Preferably one away from all this noise," said Aeris, with a grimace. "Let's look along the water. I wouldn't mind one with a view." Cloud nodded, and they left the street to double back to the waterside, making sure to avoid the docks area. They emerged onto a large avenue marked Coastal Highway, with a row of hotels and shops facing sandy beaches and the endless sea, aglitter with the ruby light of the setting sun.

"Perfect!" said Aeris, clasping her hands to her chest. Cloud remarked to himself that such real estate would certainly be pricier than that inside the city, but was too tired to argue the point, particularly with Aeris. He led the way into a nearby hotel and walked up to the desk.

"Hello sir, welcome to the Ocean View Hotel!" said the young receptionist brightly. "What can I do for you?"

"Two rooms," said Cloud simply.

"Um, Mr…Cloud, I think?" said Yuffie tentatively. "Aren't there a few more of us than that?"

"Not at all. Two rooms, four beds, six of us. Aeris, Tifa, Barret and I get the beds, you and Red XIII get the floor."

"Hey! You can't treat me like that! He can't treat us like that, right?" she said, turning to Red XIII for backup.

"I do not mind. I do not use human beds," said Red XIII.

"But…you can't just treat a classy girl like me like this!"

"Oh classy, sure," said Cloud. "Do classy girls run around in the wilderness wearing next to nothing, wielding huge weapons and stealing from travelers?"

"But I…" started Yuffie, but thought better of it and resorted to pouting silently.

"Okay, two rooms," Cloud said, turning to the receptionist once more.

"Certainly, sir, but I'm afraid we have a strict policy regarding pets."

Red XIII sighed tiredly. "Miss, I am not a pet, nor do I ever intend to be."

"You…you talk?" said the receptionist, taken aback.

"I'd be quite willing to have a highly intellectual discussion with you on any number of fascinating topics, Miss. _In the morning._"

"R-right…" she said, absently taking the money Barret thrust forward and handing over a set of keycards. "Rooms 343 and 362." Cloud nodded to her and led the way up the stairs. He said goodnight to the girls when they reached Room 343, grateful that it was Tifa and Aeris that would have to deal with Yuffie. "We'll take the day off tomorrow. Do whatever you want in the city. Take it easy," said Cloud, garnering an enthusiastic response from the rest, save the ever imperturbable Red XIII. The male members of the party proceeded down the hall to 362. They were asleep in moments, except Cloud. The mercenary lay on his back, staring straight up at the ceiling. It wasn't that he wasn't tired. Despite his relatively inactive role in the fight, he felt physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. But he couldn't, he wouldn't allow sleep to overtake him. When he was awake, he was fine. It had been when he lost consciousness that the nightmares came. The horrible visions, more real than all the truth he had ever known, of Jenova and Sephiroth as part of a foul, unholy trinity. But it took three to make a trinity…

He leapt up, quickly dressed, and walked out of the room and the hotel onto the street, and started briskly walking off without any destination in mind. No matter how he might try to deny it, Aeris was right: Jenova did have an effect on him that it didn't have on anyone else. Sure it had given them a tough time physically, but none of them were walking the streets alone out of fear of their minds being possessed. What was it about him? Was she just focusing more on him because she could see that he was the leader of sorts? No, even back in the ShinRa Headquarters, before they had had a leader, or indeed even a coherent team, it had screwed with his mind and no one else's. He couldn't figure it out for the life of him. He had never come into contact with Jenova before the rest of the team. The closest he had come was back in the Nibelheim reactor, when Sephiroth had been on the verge of releasing her from the statue. Certainly that wouldn't have given her any chance to affect him in any significant fashion. Aeris had suggested that it could have been because of his long-term proximity to Sephiroth during their employment in SOLDIER. But even Sephiroth hadn't known about Jenova. How could he have done anything to Cloud to make him particularly vulnerable to her? Maybe the Mako with which he had been injected as part of his SOLDIER training…if she was indeed an Ancient, could Jenova somehow manipulate him through the lifeblood of the Planet to which the Ancients were so close? But Cloud no longer believed that Jenova was an Ancient any more than Aeris did. The visions he had been subjected to…those had not been of this Planet. They had been so alien, so horrible, so unlike anything he had ever seen or known on this Planet…and yet they had been so true. So what did that mean? Was this whole life the lie? These buildings, these stones under his feet, these happy, carefree people roaming about: did they not really exist, compared to some huge, unimaginably terrifying truth? He was sounding like some half-crazed philosopher, he realized. Even now, when Jenova wasn't around, his thoughts were still nonsensical and insane. But when had his thoughts been normal? "Before that damn reactor mission," Cloud thought. His first re-entrance into a Mako reactor had somehow triggered something inside his head, a strange pattern of thoughts and memories that had refused to leave him alone, and that was now augmented by Jenova. Why a Mako reactor? "This isn't just a reactor…" He still didn't know what that meant. What else would it be but a reactor? "A spawning pit for man-made monsters…" Cloud answered himself in a murmur. Because wasn't that what Sephiroth had said? That ordinary men had been transformed into monsters through overexposure to Mako in such reactors? That Sephiroth himself had been created in a similar process? And later that night, he had recalled the haunting specter of Sephiroth walking through the wall of fire. And in the second reactor mission, he had actually seen Tifa running in to avenge her father's and everyone else's murder by killing Sephiroth. All Sephiroth, and therefore all Jenova. So were those flashbacks and the recent Jenova-induced hallucinations connected? But even if so, it still didn't explain the root question: why him? Why was Cloud at all connected to Jenova any more than any other former comrade of Sephiroth? Moreover, did he really want to know? He shook his head. This puzzle was missing more than a few pieces, and he didn't care to try and resolve it while it was still impossible to answer. But it was equally impossible to ignore. He would either stay awake and be haunted by the unanswerable question, or he would take his chances with the nightmares in sleep. But seeing as his tired eyes were blurring the nightclubs' neon lights before him together into one big kaleidoscopic whirl, he knew he didn't have long for wakefulness anyway. But the inevitability of the situation didn't settle his mind. Rather, what bit of consciousness remained to him was in absolute terror as he wandered back to his room, dropped onto his bed, and fell fast asleep.

The whispering of the waves softly lapping the nearby shore was the first thing to reach Cloud's ears. He snapped awake, wondering if this was a nightmare. But the world looked quite normal, and he felt no trace of the terrible consciousness of Jenova. He let out an audible sigh of relief. It appeared that Jenova had let him go, after all. For now, anyway. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table, seeing that it was already 1:13 PM. Well, that explained the dazzling shaft of light sneaking in from behind the shut curtains. He saw that there was no trace of Red XIII or Barret and unwisely opened the curtains, instantly blinding himself. Cursing, he staggered over to the bathroom as his eyes recovered, grabbed a quick shower, and redressed, leaving off his denim jacket due to the tropical heat. Today, for the first time in far too long, he could relax. He plopped back down on his unmade bed and considered ordering room service, but found that now that he could afford to be lazy, he was extraordinarily restless. Well, he evidently wasn't the only one, seeing as even the heavy-sleeping and all-around heavy Barret was up and about. After a moment, he decided to leave his sword and Materia here. Unless one of his teammates did something exceptionally stupid, he figured ShinRa would have more important things to do with their President in town than search for them. As long as they didn't bother Rufus, ShinRa likely wouldn't bother them. As for Sephiroth, Cloud knew that he would have moved on, though to where he did not know. There would be time to worry about that later. As he had said last night, today was a day to take it easy, and he fully intended to do so if he could, to erase the memories of the day before if nothing else. He hopped up to his feet and left the hotel to emerge into Costa del Sol's endless summer.

The blazing sunlight beat down on him relentlessly, but it felt good after all the time he had spent in the sunless Midgar slums. Even after being outdoors for quite a while now since leaving the ShinRa capital, sunlight was never the same as it was at the beach. He just stood on the hotel steps for a moment, raising his face to the skies and letting the sun wash over him like a cleansing rain. But as he lowered his head and opened his eyes, he noticed that the intense sun, which felt so good on his skin, was a little too intense for his eyes. Squinting through the glare, he found his way to a beachwear store and purchased a cheap pair of black wrap-around sunglasses, donning them before re-emerging into the light. He stopped by a street vendor and bought an overpriced, piece-of-shit hot dog while considering what to do next, now that he was left to his own devices. Somewhat to his surprise, he found himself totally at a loss at what to do, now that there wasn't ShinRa or Sephiroth to worry about. He supposed the others were off having fun of some sort, and he supposed such behavior was appropriate for twenty-one year olds such as himself, but it didn't appeal to him in the least. What was he supposed to do: stroll along the beaches, hit up the clubs, grab a few drinks, have a good time? Such trivialities had no place in his life, the life of a soldier. No, even soldiers would have a good time in the nearby big city when they were on leave. Indeed, naval men such as those they had traveled with were infamous for it. So such trivialities had no place in the life of…what? What was different about him that having fun should be out of the question? Sephiroth was different. The man, the monster who had destroyed his town, burned his friends, slain his mother…  
It was different with Tifa, who had witnessed the same events. Tifa had a lighter heart than him, she could get past the pain. But it was no longer pain that drove Cloud. Now it was the anger, the slow-burning fire in his chest that told him that one day, it would all come down to him and Sephiroth. He would once and for all write an ending to the forgotten duel of five years ago.

Jonathan Dincht took a deep gulp from his newly refilled beer. A lively city full of equally lively women, and he couldn't manage to find a single one who would give him a second glance. He stared straight ahead over the bar, not seeing anything as he pondered his situation. In the corner of his eye, a girl sat down next to him. He would be too forlorn to try, but he noticed that the girl looked familiar. Crossing his fingers, he turned to face her as she ordered a beer. She had a pretty face that was simple, and yet completely unforgettable.

"I don't believe it," he said in astonishment. "I don't fucking believe it! Tifa Lockheart!"

"Johnny? Is that you???" The two old friends hopped up from their adjacent barstools to embrace warmly.

"Man, how long's it been?" said Johnny, grinning widely.

"Too long," said Tifa, returning the smile.

"Never expected you to run into a place like this," said Johnny, gesturing to the surroundings. The bar wasn't particularly run down. In fact, it was relatively nice as drinking holes went, with a smooth bar surfaces and decent lighting courtesy of the dazzling sunlight streaming through the windows. But still, it was little miss innocent Tifa Lockheart!

Tifa laughed, then turned serious. "Well, I actually ran a bar for a good while. It's kind of weird to be on this side of the bar, and the glass for that matter," she said, as she took a drink. "But that got destroyed, just like Nibelheim. I guess this place feels as much like home as anywhere."

An awkward silence followed. "I'm…sorry," said Johnny. "I heard when it happened, but of course in Midgar the word was that some terrorists did it or something."

"Couldn't admit that their own precious Sephiroth went nuts," said Tifa darkly.

"What? I heard Sephiroth died protecting Nibelheim!" said Johnny. Tifa shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," she said after a moment. "Hardly the sort of thing we should be talking about when we just met for the first time in however many years."

"No, we might as well get it out of the way now. Tell me, just what did happen?"

Tifa took a deep breath, and recounted the story as Cloud had told it. When it was over, Johnny leaned back on his stool and whistled softly. "So Cloud really turned out to be a hero, didn't he? Getting you out of Corneo's must have been a cinch compared to taking on Sephiroth."

"Huh? You knew about that?"

"Yeah, I ran into him in the Wall Market near Corneo's mansion. He seemed really different from how I remembered him."

"He is," said Tifa sadly. "He's changed so much. So much quieter, so much colder. I don't think he's been the same since Nibelheim burned. And how could he be? How could I be..?"

"And how are you doing, Tifa?" Johnny asked.

She tried to smile, but the still painful recounting of memories had exhausted her will, and she failed miserably, resorting to gulping down the rest of her glass instead. "I don't know. We both changed I guess, since then. Cloud's become more distant, and I've become…what have I become???" she said tremulously before bursting into tears. Johnny put an arm around her, and she immediately sank into him, sobbing heavily into his shoulder.

"The past is funny, y'know?" Tifa said through her tears. "It's all over and gone, but it still won't let us go. Sephiroth was dead, but here he is again, killing people left and right. Cloud's been changed forever, and I'm still babbling like it happened fucking yesterday!"

Johnny was more than a little taken aback by this sudden outburst. "Just give it time," he said. "You're only what now, twenty? You just need more time, time to make some better memories to cancel it out."

"It's not that simple. It won't leave me alone. I can't ever move on."

"Of course you will! Maybe it seems like it'll hurt forever, but…"

Tifa shook her head. "You don't understand. Of course, you couldn't. No one could."

"Cloud might," Johnny suggested

Tifa laughed humorlessly. "Cloud? Cloud refuses to ever talk about it. Besides, he doesn't understand it. He doesn't even understand himself!"

"What do you mean?" asked Johnny. Tifa looked confused herself for a moment, then a look of utter horror came onto her face.

"I shouldn't have said that…" she whispered. "I swore…"

"What? What is it?" Johnny asked.

"No…I can't…"

"Tifa, please! I want to help!" But she shook her head fervently, trembling slightly, and would say no more. She picked up her now empty beer glass. "This's why I shouldn't drink," she muttered, tossing the glass away in disgust. It shattered on the floor behind the bar, prompting an outburst of profanity from the bartender.

"I'm sorry," Tifa said at length, not to the bartender, but to Johnny. "I should never have…never have…"

"It's okay," said Johnny softly, and drew her close as her tears again started to flow. He had been searching for a woman to help him through his problems, but what he had found was one more troubled than he had ever been, than he would ever be. Now it was his duty to be there for her.

She had to admit, it felt pretty good to be wearing something aside from a full-length dress for once. Aeris had in fact gone just about from one extreme to the other by obtaining some money from the group treasurer, Barret, and purchasing a moderately diminutive two-piece. She still could scarcely believe that people actually wore these in public, but she was now just one of a plethora of bikini-clad young girls laying out on towels in front of the sapphire sea. She stretched out, letting the warmth rush over her all too white skin. With any luck, she wouldn't be quite so pale by day's end.

"Yeah, I'm on vacation here for a few months, and need a little pocket change. Whaddaya think?"

"What are your qualifications?" asked the man, appraising the girl.

"Qualifications? The job is to stand behind a desk and sell people what they ask for!" said Yuffie exasperatedly. "What do I need, a P.H.D.?"

The old man sighed, taking off his spectacles and absently wiping them off with a handkerchief. "Young woman, this is a jewelry store. I can't just hire people on a whim. I need to be certain that you are trustworthy."

"Trustworthy???" exclaimed Yuffie, placing a hand to her heart in shock. "You think I'm not...? Well fine, I can see that I'm not wanted here." She spun on her heel and briskly walked for the door.

"W-wait!" said the storeowner, running after her. She stopped and looked back expectantly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," said the man quickly. Her gambit had worked; not many residents of a city of delights such as Costa del Sol were interested in a serious, full-time job, or indeed needed one, since one had to be fairly rich to live here in the first place. Yuffie restrained a grin. This was going to be too easy.

Red XIII cocked open an eye as he heard two children approach the shady, secluded corner of the city he had picked for his shelter. He wished fervently that he could have entered an air-conditioned building, but no doubt the entrance of a man-sized, fire red creature would not go over well with the local residents. Humans were so superficial. Just because he looked different from them, they automatically assumed that he was an unthinking killer beast. But since there were so many of them and only one of him, he had to accommodate them. He sighed sadly. Only one of him.

"Hey, what's that?" said the young boy.

"That's a big kitty!" said the girl, holding a soccer ball.

Red XIII managed to restrain himself from growling at the children. "I am not a kitty," he said, tiring of explaining just what he wasn't to humans ignorant of any race older than themselves.

"Wow, he can talk!" said the boy, surprised, but less so than a more skeptical adult. "Are you a nice kitt…animal?"

"I'm not going to eat you, if that's what you mean."

"Do you want to play ball?" asked the girl.

"No," said Red XIII, but the soccer ball was already rolling towards him. He fully intended to let it hit him and bounce off, signifying his lack of interest in the game, but to his surprise his tail snapped forward and hit the ball right back to the girl.

"Yay!" said the girl, and she hit it over to the boy, who then passed it to Red XIII, whose tail once more hit the ball to the girl completely of its own volition. It tended to have a mind of its own at times. It was just as well. At least these young humans accepted him. That was something.

Barret tried to keep his mind off the scenery as he walked back from the grocery store where he had replenished the team's supplies. Costa del Sol held too many memories for him. Memories of summers so long ago. The long car ride, full of conversations about everything and about nothing at all, full of joyous laughter and silence equally so. The disembarking, the relaxing on the beach, the candlelight dinners…

"DAMMIT!!!" screamed Barret, dropping the bags and furiously discharging his gun-arm into the air. What right, what fucking right did they have to take everything away from him like they had? And for what, some bogus terrorist threat? What had that had to do with Josalyn? Yet here he was, blithely walking back from the store, when the president of the corporation that had done it was lounging at some pool somewhere, surrounded by his underlings, his beautiful women, his ill-gotten money pried from the desperate clutches of the wretched. All because of some nut ex-SOLDIER that was supposed to be dead. Why wasn't he? What the fuck was that monster he had unleashed? And why did Cloud feel so obligated to be the one to defeat him, dragging them all along, keeping Barret from his fight with ShinRa? What was this Sephiroth bastard going to do to kill everyone anyway? None of it made any sense! Barret had been in control back in Midgar, and now his original team was dead, and he was being pulled into some huge mystery involving Ancients, SOLDIERs, huge freaky headless monsters, and NOT involving killing the ShinRa! He didn't pretend to understand any of it. That was Cloud's job, and the mercenary had better hope that this henceforth fruitless pursuit was worth it, for his sake.

Despite his best intentions, Cloud eventually ended up wandering onto the beach; it was all but impossible in this city. He gazed around, shaking his head disdainfully at all the scantily-clad people, doing their utmost to attract attention. "Doesn't quite work if you all wear the same thing," he thought.

"Cloud!" One of the figures was running across the sand towards him, and suddenly Cloud found his attention completely arrested. The girl had long, creamy white limbs, a thin but shapely torso dominated by pink-fabric concealed quite respectable endowments, and the only part of her that was familiar, the beautiful, statuesque face, with the hauntingly beautiful eyes and ever-present smile. Her hair was once more let down, swinging down by her waist as she reached him.

"What do you think?" Aeris said, twirling around in front of him.

"Not bad," said Cloud, fighting desperately to keep his voice casual and his eyes on hers. The bathing suit was not as revealing as many of the others out on the beach, but it was certainly enough.

"Thanks!" she said. "I thought so too! Kinda nice to be wearing something different for a change."

"A bit from one extreme to the other, isn't it?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No," said Cloud, a little too fast. He racked his brains for something to say to change the subject when he noticed the last person he ever expected to see at the beach, save perhaps Sephiroth. Stretched out in a foldable beach chair a short distance from the lapping waves, still clad in his white lab coat, was ShinRa's very own Professor Hojo. Or at least he had been ShinRa's own, until he had disappeared, as Rufus had said back in Junon. It didn't seem that Costa del Sol was the best place to which to disappear, seeing as the President was here as well, but here Hojo was nonetheless.

"What is HE doing here?" Aeris whispered, following Cloud's eyes.

"I don't know," said Cloud. "But I'm gonna find out."

"Cloud, don't!" said Aeris urgently. I don't want anything more to do with him!"  
"Don't worry. I won't let him try anything," said Cloud, but Aeris still clung to him uncertainly as he approached. Hojo remained on his back, giving no sign that he was aware of visitors.

"Hojo," said Cloud. He did not respond. Cloud tried again with similar success, then kicked the chair. Hojo sat up with a start, looking around wildly before seeing the two. "Ah, perfect," he said, gazing up at Cloud. So you are here after all. I had a feeling you would be."

"Why'd you quit ShinRa?" asked Cloud without prelude.

Hojo shrugged. "After I lost both of my prime test subjects, there was hardly anything left for me there. Say...aren't you the Ancient?" he said, looking Aeris over and running a serpentine tongue along his thin lips. "My, you're looking better than when I saw you last. Positively--"

"Shut it," Cloud ordered, placing his foot on Hojo's chest and pressing down slightly. "Why are you here?"

"Why, I think that should be obvious. I'm getting a tan," said Hojo, staring at Cloud coolly.

"Funny. Most people don't tan wearing a full-length coat."

"Well, I suppose I'm hardly most people, am I?"

Cloud pushed down with his foot, provoking a fit of hacking from Hojo. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here for research."

"What research?" Aeris said suspiciously. Hojo ignored her.

He turned to Cloud. "Tell me, have you ever had the idea that you're being called to do something? To go somewhere?"

"What are you talking about? We're looking for Sephiroth. I'll follow him wherever he goes."

"I see…interesting…" said Hojo slowly. "So that's how it works with you…"

"What are you talking about?" Cloud said again. But Hojo would say no more, just muttering 'interesting' to himself. Cloud shook his head. This was hopeless. He pushed down on Hojo's chest again, until the scientist again started coughing. "Has Sephiroth been here?"

"Sephiroth? Here? I don't think he seems much like the sunbathing type, do you?" Cloud jammed his foot down and Hojo shot upright, wheezing for air.

"Where is he?" demanded Cloud, blue eyes glinting menacingly.

"I think you would know that better than I," replied Hojo, staring evenly back. Cloud was about to once again order Hojo to make some sort of sense when it suddenly came to him. "West," he said quietly. "Sephiroth is heading west." Hojo started to laugh, shaking violently under Cloud's foot.

"What? How do you know?" said Aeris.

"I don't know. I just do," said Cloud quickly. "What's so funny?" he said to Hojo. But the scientist was lost in the joke and in his trembling. "I've had enough of this," said Cloud in disgust. He turned and walked off, but Aeris hesitated. She summoned her staff, and without warning, whacked Hojo in the side of the head, knocking him out cold. Satisfied, she again banished her staff and walked briskly after him.

"I've never thought you to be one for random violence," Cloud remarked with a smile.

"I owed him one," Aeris replied, grinning back. "And is it me, or did he say one sensible thing that entire conversation?"

"Not really," replied Cloud. "No surprise there."

"So how did you know where Sephiroth was going?"

"I told you, I don't know."

"It's that connection again, between you and-"

"I know what it is!" Cloud snapped. He had just managed to forget about the nightmares yesterday, and now he just discovered that he intuitively knew where Sephiroth was going. While this was useful, any mental connection to Sephiroth didn't bode well for his normality. And she just had to bring it up. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But you really should-"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!" Aeris shrank back slightly at Cloud's harshness, but he didn't care. He was sick of Aeris urging him to think about this mysterious "connection" between him and Sephiroth. Thinking didn't solve anything, and all too often seemed to make things worse. He needed action to keep his mind occupied. "I'm heading out of town for a while. I'll be back by morning."

"But…where are you going?" asked Aeris, taken aback. Cloud shrugged. "I was thinking maybe we could-"

"I don't want to," said Cloud shortly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he walked briskly off in the direction of the hotel. Aeris stared after him, bemused as ever when contemplating Cloud. Such a guy, yet such a mess. She hoped someday he would figure himself out. She lay back down on her towel and tried to relax, but found herself too restless after the encounters with Hojo and Cloud, plus the sun was starting to sink. She packed up and walked back to the hotel, hoping to catch Cloud and have a slightly better conversation, but he had evidently already come and gone, for the males' room was locked. With a sigh, she walked back to her own room. The female room was far from empty. Tifa and Yuffie were sitting on the beds, watching the television. Yuffie was loudly laughing at all the sitcoms stupid jokes, while Tifa seemed to be distantly staring right through the screen, her mind miles away.

"Hey, Miss…" Yuffie started.

"The name's Aeris," said the newcomer with a smile. "And that's Tifa."

"I know her! We've been hangin' out, right Tifa?"

"Huh?" said Tifa absently, looking over. "Oh, hey Aeris. You haven't seen Cloud, have you?"

"He's heading out on his own for a while. In another one of his moods," said Aeris. Tifa nodded, understanding instantly.

"Huh?" said Yuffie.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Aeris. "But hey, we don't need Cloud! Let's go out!"  
"Girl's night out!" said Yuffie, leaping up from the bed. "Come on, Tifa!"

"I don't think so," said Tifa, lying down again. "You two have fun."

"Unacceptable!" said Aeris.

"We're not takin' 'no' for an answer!" seconded Yuffie. "Now you're gonna stop moping and come have fun."

"But I-"

"No buts!" said Aeris and Yuffie, hauling Tifa up by an arm each.

"Where are we going?" said Tifa, bewildered.

"Who knows?" said Aeris, grinning widely. "This is called being impetuous. Why not give it a try?"

At last, Tifa gave a small smile. "Alright, I think I will." And the three of them walked out of the room, arm in arm, for a night out on the blazing-neon town of Costa del Sol.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A bit random of an ending, I know. But I wanted a kinda cheery ending, as that chapter was in every way the precise opposite of what I intended. I meant to have it be a light-hearted, short, fluffy, fun-to-write chapter. Instead, it was a heavy, fairly lengthy, plot-laden, hard-to-write chapter. Like I've said, I just kinda write what comes to mind, and this is what came out. So that's why it took WAY long to release. And when I did finish, the website was having problems and wouldn't let me upload the bloody thing. Sorry 'bout that. But I'm back at long last, and will try to do better about the whole updating thing.

Dark ki: I wasn't a big fan of Aeris in the game, and actually DID like Tifa (I phrased my remark of last chapter in a misleading fashion), but those have been reversed in my writing. I now focus on personality rather than fighting style or, to be honest, looks, and Aeris' character is just much more fun than the depressive Tifa. But Tifa's day will come.

BlackFire 26: As much as I loathe to admit I'm wrong, good point. In my defense, she did feel that she was going to her death and I wanted to show her running to Cloud, but she was also pretty confident and self-sufficient. I'll try and balance the two.

Velvy: Yeah, Costa del Sol was my favorite city in the game, but I fear I didn't really do enough with it here. What do you think?

Emeraldjewel: Heh heh, gotta love Barret. And good call on Yuffie's Materia, it was indeed an Enemy Skill, or Blue Magic, as I think I'll call it. As for Rufus' hair, I believe that in the cutscenes and battles it was blonde, but his actual superdeformed model that you saw in the regular game had red hair. Most people think of him as blond, but I remembered his polygonal self, so that's the hair I gave him. Reno's was kind of a reddish-brown, I think, and that's what I'm keeping it.

The Great Susinko: Well, thanksya much! Good to hear that the pacing, characterization, and particularly description are sufficient; setting the scene is one of my biggest worries. I have now checked out Advent Children, and it does look freaking sweet. While I kinda wish they would just leave FFVII with its great ending, I will definitely watch it nonetheless when it arrives.

Hume: I agree with your opinion of the Yuffster. I was thinking myself that my Yuffie came off a little too much like Selphie of FFVIII. I will keep an eye on that. As for the paragraphs, I've been experimenting with including various quotes in the same paragraph to increase continuity, particularly with short lines. I dunno that I'll make this continuous, but as a creative writer, I reserve the right to screw around with the language.

Steffel: Wow! That praise should keep me going for a while. Thanks!

Dyn: I'll refrain from saying you have way too much free time and just be flattered that you read this all in one sitting. That's quite a compliment, especially coming from one who doesn't know and already love the game. I'm trying to write this so it would be effective for someone who knows nothing of the plot beforehand, and according to you, I'm doing alright. So thanks much, and here's the long overdue update! (Or I guess here it was, seeing as at this point you've finished reading the thing. Whoops)

Steffel: Did it end on Aeris as well? I didn't remember that. Been a while since I beat the game. I shall have to do so again at some point.


	29. Unwelcome Homecoming

Unwelcome Homecoming

The blazing hot sun of Costa del Sol saw many things upon its awakening each morning. Mostly just the same storeowners busying themselves preparing for the day's onrush of vacationers, the same gulls circling above the waves and diving for fish, the same fishermen competing with the birds, bringing in their catches. So accustomed was it to these daily activities, it didn't even think to look for the anomaly: a group of six travelers, leaving the Ocean View Hotel early in the morning to strike out westward from the city.

"So where are we goin', anyway?" asked Barret as they left the beachside paradise behind them.

"I don't know," said Cloud. "All I know is that Sephiroth went west, and so we're following him."

"How do you know that you are following him?" said Red XIII. "A simple cardinal direction is hardly a specific-"

"I just do!" snapped Cloud, turning his attention to the path ahead.

"Don't ask," muttered Aeris. Red XIII cocked an eyebrow, but said no more.

"Kinda fussy sometimes, isn't he?" said Yuffie to Tifa.

"You have no idea," replied Tifa, shaking her head.

"Where west are we goin'?" said Barret in a queer tone of voice.

"I-don't-freaking-KNOW!" shouted Cloud, storming out ahead of the group and forcing them to double their pace to catch up. Tifa glanced over to Barret, expecting a sharp retort for being so rudely refused, but oddly enough for him, he seemed to be lost in thought.

They traveled west of Costa del Sol about a day and a half when they reached the foot of a mountain, where they received confirmation from a hiker resting by the side of the path that a black cloaked man had indeed passed by earlier. Cloud had nodded and turned to continue on, trying hard to ignore the wondering stares of his teammates on him. The climb was relatively tough, particularly for Aeris, and they rested frequently on the way up. Cloud knew they should probably be traveling faster, with fewer breaks, but he frankly wasn't too eager to catch up with Sephiroth. For the first time in a while, he was afraid. Afraid not of death, but of answers.

The base of the mountain had been lushly wooded, but as they approached the peak, the terrain got more and more desolate, as if the very life had been drained from the earth. As they neared the peak, Cloud noted an all-too familiar trail of green fumes drifting up from somewhere on the other side of the mountain. When he finally reached the top and looked over, he found his suspicions confirmed. A small Mako reactor lay not too far below them, spewing its telltale green smoke into the air. Oddly enough, a train track lay at its main door, leading the rest of the way down the mountain.

"Barret?" said Tifa. Cloud turned to see Barret standing stock still, staring at the reactor with a look of utmost rage in his eyes. All of a sudden, without warning he started charged down the hill, screaming furiously and firing his gun-arm at the reactor.

"You idiot!" said Cloud, and grabbed the terrorist as he ran by, trying to stop him, but he might as well have been trying to hold back a half-ton boulder rolling down a steep cliff face. Only when all of them had piled onto his massive body, including Red XIII, did Barret finally slow and eventually stop his mad rush.

"What were you thinking?" demanded Cloud furiously. "Do you want ShinRa to find us? For once in your freaking life, control your dumbass self!"

"Why don' you jes' shut up 'bout stuff you don' know 'bout, merc!" Barret snarled.

"He's right, Barret," said Tifa gently. "You can't just go in firing every time you see a Mako reactor."

"This ain't just any reactor…" said Barret, still glaring at the structure below them. Cloud tried to ignore the memories those words inspired.

"Just try not to be such an idiot," said Cloud as he started to walk away, only to go flying forward from a fist to the back. He hit the ground hard, tumbling head over heels downhill for several yards before finally sliding to a stop. He did a handspring back to his feet, just in time to dodge another crushing blow from Barret. Cloud was usually a stoic in the face of danger, but even he quailed slightly when he saw the twisted mask of pure rage on the face of the huge man rushing towards him. Instead of counterattacking, he stepped back, raising his arms defensively, but he realized that blocking would do next to nothing against the massive strength of Barret, so instead leapt backwards as Barret came in swinging. He landed, then darted in for a quick kick into Barret's chest, which failed to even slow him. Barret caught Cloud's foot and lifted it, easily hositing Cloud up with his one hand, then hurled him through the air. Cloud landed flat on his back, still hurting from Barret's punch, and it felt like it shattered altogether. He bounced once or twice then lay still, groaning. He saw Barret looming over him, gun-arm pointed at his face.

"Barret, no!" cried Tifa running up to him. Barret hesitated. Cloud knew that if Barret wanted to finish him, neither Tifa nor anyone would stop him, but her familiar voice may have awakened him from his berserker rage. And indeed, Barret slowly lowered his gun and the fires blazing in his dark eyes quelled. Aeris ran to Cloud's side as he lay on the ground and quickly cast a Cure spell on him, and Cloud felt the bones in his back tentatively mend, though they still felt rather fragile.

"Barret, what were you thinking?" demanded Tifa.

Barret whirled around on her, and for a second Cloud was afraid that he was about to attack her as well. "Now is NOT the time ta screw with me, a'ight!" Barret shouted right into her face. She shrank back, and Barret returned to the path to continue down the mountainside.

"Are you alright, Cloud?" said Aeris, taking his arm and helping him to his feet.

"I'll live," said Cloud.

"Um, so what was that all about?" said Yuffie, tentatively approaching the group.

"You've got me," she replied. "Tifa?"

"I don't know either," said Tifa, staring after Barret somewhat fearfully. "I've seen him mad before, but almost never like that."

"At any rate, I believe that we should take Barret's advice for a while. Even you, Cloud," said Red XIII, calm as always.

"Good call, Professor," muttered Cloud. "Come on, let's get going."

They were hard-pressed to keep up with Barret, who was now in front on his own. He set a blistering pace, and would not listen to any pleas to slow. Cloud's injured back sent pain racing up his spine with every step he took.

"Don't you have anything stronger for healing, Aeris?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," said Aeris with an apologetic smile. "The Materia isn't old enough yet." When used enough, Materia would "grow" to a more mature form. While they remained the same in appearance, they would be capable of imparting stronger abilities to the user. A Restore Materia would eventually learn the more powerful healing spells Cura, able to heal more grievous injuries, and Curaga, which would mend all but the most critical wounds. But this Materia was still too young, and the Cure spell had done all it could. Cloud muttered a curse and reached into his backpack for some painkillers, which he swallowed dry. The pain in his back settled down, but his bones were still far from mended. He was tempted to rush up, sword in hand, and give Barret an injury of his own. What on Planet had ever made Barret react like that, anyway? Sure Cloud had insulted him, but insults passed between them at least on an hourly basis. What had made this any different? And then there was the Mako reactor. If Barret had gone berserk like that every time he saw one, they would have never escaped the first bombing mission without being detected and having a full platoon of ShinRa guards descending upon their heads. Why was he so much more on edge all of a sudden?

The reactor left far behind them, they found themselves walking along a winding train track. Why there was a railroad ran straight from a Mako reactor Cloud didn't know, but it seemed to run down the mountain, so they followed it. Indeed, at some points it was the only way, when it turned it bridged a huge crevice in the cliff. The journey was made in silence, everyone still taken aback from Barret's inexplicable behavior. But as they drew closer to the foot of the mountain, Barret slowed gradually, until he was at the rear of the group, dragging his feet and hanging his head.

"C'mon, Barret. We've gotta keep pace," said Cloud, still wary of antagonizing the terrorist, and hating himself for it. Barret murmured something incoherent. "Did you hear me?" said Cloud.

"Yeah!" snapped Barret, looking up for a moment, and then back at his feet. Cloud shook his head. Evidently Barret had problems of his own, and the one time Cloud was curious as to what he was thinking was the one time that Barret decided to keep his big mouth shut. But Cloud had a feeling that they would be finding out what was on Barret's mind soon enough anyway, one way or another.

The sun started to set as they neared the bottom, and several small trails of smoke became visible coming up from the foot of the mountain.

"There must be people nearby," said Tifa. Cloud glanced at Barret, who stared fixedly at the smoke, but said nothing. They deviated from the railroad track to cross a rickety looking wood bridge over another large crevice that gave Cloud some uncomfortable memories. But the bridge turned out to be quite sturdy, not to mention free of monsters, and they soon found themselves looking down at the foot of the mountain. Cloud was surprised to observe a shantytown set up at the base. Small huts built out of scrap metal housed dirty people, with several large fire pits scattered around to ward off the oncoming cold of night.

"What are these people doing here?" said Aeris. "This is as bad as the Midgar slums!" Cloud silently agreed with Aeris' confusion. The base of a mountain seemed an odd place for a seemingly permanent, isolated community of poor people. What were they doing here?

"I knew it…" muttered Barret.

"Knew what?" said Tifa. "You've been avoiding telling us something for a long time now. What is it?"

"Just stay back," he said quietly. "Ya won' wanna get in the middle o' this."

"In the middle of what?" demanded Tifa. But Barret was silent as he marched down to the first of the shacks. As he approached a man stepped out, grungy and clad in tattered clothing that looked like it may well be the only clothes he owned. He turned to look at the newcomer, and his mouth dropped.

"I don't believe it. I don't freaking believe it," said the man. "Hey everyone, look who decided to come back!" The other residents milling about the "town" turned to see what the deal was, and had similar reactions. They started muttering to each other.

"I don' wanna cause a fuss," said Barret quietly.

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have come here, you jackass," said the man. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I did."

"Oh, you're sorry! Well, I guess that makes it all better then, doesn't it?" said the interrogator caustically. Without warning, he hauled back and slammed Barret in the face. Cloud flinched as he waited for Barret to reach out and snap the man in half with one hand. But Barret didn't make a move to retaliate. He only looked down at the ground, saying nothing.

"So why are you here, you son of a bitch? You like seeing us like this? Like lookin' over your handiwork?"

"I just wanna pass through," muttered Barret. "Don' want any trouble."

"So you thought we'd just let you walk right through without saying anything? Oh, Wallace, you didn't think that one through, did you? But then, that's never been your strong suit, has it?"

"Please, jes' lemme through."

"Bullshit!" said another onlooker, stepping forward to block Barret's path. "You ain't getting' through that easy!" With his example, the entire crowd moved in front of Barret, making it impossible for him to advance.

"JES' LEMME THROUGH!" Barret yelled tearfully, raising his gun-arm at the crowd. The townspeople went silent.

"Pullin' a gun on unarmed civilians," said the first man quietly. "Should've seen that one coming." But the crowd's hatred of Barret evidently didn't extend so far as to lead them to sacrifice their lives, and they formed a path. Barret charged headlong through the opening and straight out of the small town, not looking back.

"Um, now what?" said Aeris after a moment.

"We follow him, I guess," said Cloud with a shrug.

"Do you think they'll let us through?" said Tifa fearfully.

"One way to find out," said Cloud, striding boldly down to the crowd, which was still yelling threats at Barret.

"And who are you?" said the interrogator, turning to face the newcomers. "Friends of Wallace, are you?"

"Why do you all hate him so much?" said Tifa. Cloud was surprised at this. He had figured that as Barret's comrade in AVALANCHE, Tifa would have known what this was about.

"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know!" said the man. "You're probably just as bad as him!"

"Hey, take it easy," said a smaller man, placing his hand on the interrogator's shoulder. "Maybe Wallace never told 'em."

The interrogator snorted. "Bullshit. Probably boasts about it to everyone, how he single-handedly destroyed his own town.

Cloud's mind froze on that statement. Destroyed his own town? Barret?

"Jacob's right," said a woman to the interrogator. "We don't have anything against these people."

"They're with Wallace. That's enough against 'em for me," said the interrogator. But aside from a few mutters of assent, it seemed that the majority of the crowd was for tolerating the strangers. The interrogator called several other men to him, and they held a quick conference. He then turned back to Cloud.

"Alright, you all can pass through and follow your stinkin' friend. But take my advice and lose the son-of-a-bitch before he gets you killed too."

Cloud nodded, and quickly led his team through the crowd and out of town before more trouble could ensue.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" said Yuffie when they were out of earshot of the town.

"You got me," said Cloud. "And Tifa, you don't know?"

She shook her head, frowning. "He never said anything about his life before he came to Midgar. I asked about Marlene once, you know, how she's white and everything, and he got so mad that I never mentioned it again."

"Well, here's our chance to find out," said Aeris, pointing ahead. Barret sat on a large boulder, staring off into space, with his back to them.

"Sorry y'all had to see that," he said as they approached.

"Barret, what was that all about?" said Tifa, putting her arm around his massive shoulders. He was silent for a long moment, then took a deep breath.

"It was four years ago. I used ta live in Corel, which is…used to be pretty near here. We was a coal minin' town. That's what we did, that's what our dads did, and their dads, and way on back before anyone can remember. Coal was our lives. But one day…one day we got visited by some suits from some big company called ShinRa Inc. Wanted to install a Mako reactor nearby to give us Mako power. I'd heard of 'em before, how Mako was a real clean and cheap source o' power, so I was all for it. I talked it up in town, an' got a lot o' support for it. Soon the only one opposed to it was my best friend, guy named Dyne. He kept sayin' how we didn' have the right to give up the coal all our forefathers had worked an' sometimes died to reach. But he couldn' stand alone for long, an' pretty soon we gave ShinRa permission to build a Mako reactor right above one of our coal mines. Worst mistake I ever made in my life.

'Soon as ShinRa had that foothold into the town, they started tryin' to run everything. Started overruling decisions by the town council, makin' their own taxes, all this shit. Soon as we saw this happenin', bunch of us formed a resistance movement to protest. Nothin' violent, understand, just protestin'. But that was too much for ShinRa ta tolerate." He fell silent.

"What happened then, Barret?" Aeris said quietly.

"They…they bombed the town," Barret said.. "Just set a few explosives, and blew up half the town. Said it was the protesters who did it, said we were really anarchist terrorists. Even gave us a bullshit name: AVALANCHE."

Cloud couldn't help but smile slightly. Jessie had had her own explanation for what the name meant, but only Barret had known the truth. It must have made ShinRa do a double take to see a ghost terrorist group of their own creation arise to bomb their reactors. He had to give Barret credit for that one.

"That, o' course, got the whole town up in arms," continued Barret. "And soon it became a full-scale war. Didn' last too long. ShinRa called in their military, and soon the whole town was up in flames. Jes' about everyone died. Even my wife. Only ones who survived were some o' us who were out o' the town, tryin' to recruit help from other towns nearby, an' a few others in the town. The rest of 'em didn' have nothin' left. Their town was gone, their coal was gone, an' they didn' have nowhere to go. So they just set up camp here and struggle to make ends meet."

Everyone was silent.

"I'm sorry, Barret. I never knew…" said Tifa.

"That's so awful…" seconded Aeris.

"So tha's why it's all my fault," said Barret. "I brought ShinRa into town, and they destroyed it. All my dumbass fault…"

"It's not your fault, Barret!" said Tifa fervently. "We were all fooled by the promises ShinRa made back then!"

"Not true!" exclaimed Yuffie. They turned to look at her in surprise. "I wasn't ever fooled! And it WAS Barret's fault!"

"Yuffie!" said Aeris angrily. But the girl plowed on. "He should never have trusted ShinRa. He knew they wanted to take away their coal, and ruin his town's culture! Serves Corel right for trusting them"

"Yuffie, Barret does not need this right now!" said Tifa, stepping up to confront her.

"I'm serious!" she insisted. "You all don't understand-"

"Yuffie," said Cloud calmly. "You may want to get out of here for a while to cool down, before we all kill you."

"But I"

"Head back into town and see if you can find out anything about a black-cloaked man passing through here."

"But"

"Do it."

Scowling, Yuffie stalked off away from the group, back towards town. What had gotten into her, Cloud wondered.

"Don't listen to her, Barret. She's just a stupid little girl," said Tifa, crouching back down to console Barret.

"Mebee, but she was right," said Barret. "Jes' like Dyne was right. Damn, we should've listened to him. I shoulda known better than to jes' throw away our coal."

"Barret, you could not be expected to foresee what would happen to Corel. It is senseless to continue berating yourself," said Red XIII.

"Why? It's my fault, an' nothin' y'all say is gonna change that!" snapped Barret.

"Aeris, why don't you go into town and try and find out some information as well?" said Cloud after a minute.

"Isn't that what Yuffie is doing?" said Aeris, staring at Barret sympathetically.

"You think I trust her alone to get information determining where we're going?" said Cloud. "I need someone I can count on in there." Aeris smiled, but this quickly gave way to a concerned glance at Barret before she walked back towards the town.

"Perhaps we should consider setting up camp for the night," said Red XIII. Cloud just then noticed that the formerly impending night was now full upon them, and a crescent moon was quickly rising in the sky.

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Cloud. "Tifa, gimme a hand with getting the tent together." She nodded wordlessly, and they started to rummage through everyone's packs to gather the tent parts distributed throughout them. Barret sat on his rock, staring out into nothingness just as he had been when they had found him. Red XIII, not possessing a physiology conducive to helping construct a tent, sat on his hind legs, similarly silent. Not a word passed between them until…

"Hey, Cloud!" He looked up to see Yuffie running back towards them full-tilt. He had to brace himself and block her before she plowed right into the tent.

"What?" he said irritably, staggering backwards from the force of her charge.

"Some guy said he'd seen a guy in a black cloak passing through here from the mountain!"

Cloud waited. "…And?" he said expectantly.

"Um, he didn't say anything to anybody. Oh, and he had a tattoo of the number '1'!"

Cloud didn't know Sephiroth to have a tattoo, but he doubted too many other silent, black-cloaked men had climbed the mountain recently. "And where was he going?"

"I dunno," said the thief, shrugging. Cloud growled. "That was the point of asking about him!"

"You didn't say that. You only said to find out about a black-cloaked man," Yuffie pointed out. It was all Cloud could do to keep from strangling her then and there. Trying to restrain himself from shaking with fury, he knelt down and, picking up a hammer, dealt a crushing blow to the tent stake, immediately driving it into the rocky soil. He had been right not to trust Yuffie to get the job done.

To his surprise, he soon heard Red XIII growling. He turned to see Yuffie trying to approach Barret, but Red XIII blocking her path, obviously not wanting her to cause Barret any more trouble. Unfazed, she deftly leapt over the creature and Barret, twirling around to face him. "Barret! Take a look at this!" she said, holding out a yellow gem.

"What?" he said miserably, not looking up.

"It's a Deathblow Materia!" she said brightly. "It lets you focus the power of any weapon you place it in, so you make it more powerful! I dunno if it works with guns, cause I don't think Cetra had 'em. But I figured if it did, you'd like it!"

Barret at last looked up. "Deathblow, eh?" he said, taking the gem and placing it into a slot in his gun-arm. "So what do I do?"

"You just concentrate for a few seconds, and direct its energy to your gun. Then BOOM!" said Yuffie, gesturing with her hands.

Barret rose slowly to his feet, and raised his gun, aiming at another large rock about ten meters away. He closed his eyes, and the gem started to glow. As the gem illuminated, so did the gun itself, suddenly surrounded with an white radiance that was a beacon in the darkness of night. "YAH!" he yelled as he fired. The chain gun revolved through one firing cycle, but sounded twice as loud as usual, and his arm rocketed up in recoil from the power of the shot. When next they looked, the stone at which Barret had aimed was simply not there anymore. Regular bullets might have splintered pieces of it off, but this blast had simply pulverized it into powder.

"Shit!" said Barret in awe. "This thing's my new bes' friend! Thanks, kid!"

"Still kid?" said Yuffie angrily. But Cloud looked at her with a new respect. Whatever had driven her to verbally attack Barret had evidently subsided, and she had given him a Materia she knew would interest his violent nature, ironically, as a peace offering.

"Where'd you get that Materia, anyway?" said a widely grinning Tifa, obviously relieved to see Barret's mood lighten.

"Got it in Costa del Sol!" said Yuffie. "Along with all these!" With that she reached into a pocket on her bag, and dumped out several more beautiful gems. Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Cloud just stared.

"Those're all Materia..?" said Barret after a moment.

"Yep!" said Yuffie brightly. "Got 'em at a jewelry store!"

Cloud nodded at this. Many people didn't realize Materia's power, but they all recognized its beauty, and so it was often sold as simple jewelry, both shopkeeper and customer unaware that the very knowledge of the Ancients had just been exchanged. "But how could you afford all of them?"

"Might not wanna ask," said Yuffie, grinning mischievously.

"You stole them, didn't you?" said Tifa tiredly.

"Give the lady a prize!" said Yuffie, throwing her arms up in the air.

"You can't just go around stealing from every town we visit!" said Cloud sternly.

"Hey, relax! No one caught me! Besides, whaddaya wanna do; hike back over that stinkin' mountain to return 'em to some clueless old geezer who'll never know what they really are?"

Cloud scowled, but had to admit that she was right. Returning the stolen goods wasn't exactly an option at this point, and they would be put to much better use by them than by their former owner. "Just don't do it again, alright?"

"Oh, I think we'll be set for awhile," said Yuffie happily.

"Indeed…" said Red XIII wonderingly. "Materia to increase magical power, vitality, to resuscitate fallen allies, another Restore Materia, and a summon Materia!"

"Ifrit, the guardian of fire, to be exact," said Yuffie smugly. "Naturally I'll have to collect these back up when we part company, but for now, I think I can be generous."

"Thanks," said Cloud wryly.

"So who gets what?" said Yuffie excitedly.

"I think Aeris gets them all," said Cloud.  
"WHAT?" exclaimed Yuffie incredulously.

"Except the Restore Materia, obviously. She already has one."

"What kinda B.S. favoritism is that?" said Yuffie.

"It makes sense. She's our medic of sorts, so she gets the Revive. She isn't tough, so she gets the vitality. She's the best with magic, so she could do the most with Ifrit. And Tifa will get the other Restore." Tifa nodded while Yuffie muttered under her breath.

"Someone talking about me?" called Aeris as she approached.

"Got some new toys for you," said Cloud, standing up to present her with the new Materia.

"Wow!" she said, admiring the multitude of gems. "This many Materia? Where'd they come from?"

"Don't ask."

She peered at him questioningly but said no more on the subject. "So evidently Sephiroth was seen heading this way."

"And what exactly is this way towards which he could be heading?" asked Red XIII

"The closest thing is some huge amusement park/casino called the Gold Saucer."

"The Gold Saucer!" said Yuffie happily. "I've heard of that place! Always wanted to go!"

"But what would Sephiroth want at an amusement park?" mused Tifa.

"To kill people who were enjoying themselves too much," said Cloud soberly. That prompted a moment's silence. "How do we get there?"

"The main structure of the Gold Saucer is way up in the sky, supported by a big pillar in the ground. There's some sort of cable car a few miles down the road that takes you up to it."

Cloud nodded. "Barret, are you ready to go?"

"Anything to get me outta here," said the terrorist quietly.

"I thought we were staying here for the night?" said Tifa, motioning to the almost-erected tent.

"We can't take the chance," said Cloud, shaking his head. "We don't know when Sephiroth will strike. We have to get there as soon as we can. Let's take down the tent and get moving."

Contrary to popular belief (if popular belief concerns itself with the likes of me), I am in fact NOT dead. Nor am I finished with this, though thank you, Velvy, for the encouragement. I just had a rather lengthy dry spell. I really didn't want to do the Barret's hometown sequence, but it was rather unavoidable. So I just procrastinated…and procrastinated…and procrastinated. But FINALLY I got through it, and I have some fun changes planned for the Gold Saucer that should keep me, and hopefully all of you, if anyone is still out there, interested. And sorry that this isn't separated from the rest of the text. Blame this site's stupid formatting crap that won't let me space things properly, or even insert a line between this and the text. Bah.


	30. The Gold Saucer

The Gold Saucer

The cable car which Aeris had mentioned turned out to be only a few miles down the road. Strange that it was so close to a makeshift town of poor urchins. But then, they had only moved in a few years ago, whereas one could see that the Gold Saucer was well established just by looking up. Towering far above them, easily twice as high as the ShinRa headquarters, was a colossal golden pillar. Branching off of the pillar near the top were the series of huge discs which gave the place its name, decorated with enough lights to illuminate the entire sky of the surrounding area. It was an impressive spectacle, Cloud had to admit. He tore his eyes away to walk up to a booth, where an attendant sat.

"Planning on riding the Ropeway?" she said as Cloud approached.

"Huh?"

"The Ropeway to the Gold Saucer!"

"Oh, right," said Cloud. "Have you let a black-cloaked man on the Ropeway today?"

"A black-cloaked man?" said the attendant, frowning. "I don't think so…but I'm not sure. The Ropeway is free, so large crowds can walk on all at once without me seeing all of them. I could very easily have missed him. Maybe you could ask one of the welcome people up there," she said, gesturing up to the Gold Saucer.

Cloud nodded. "Alright then, I guess we'll be going up." He gestured to the group, and they all boarded the sleek metal car which was attached to the cable, running all the way up to the Saucer. They all boarded, except for Red XIII, who hesitated outside the door.

"Perhaps I should not accompany you," he said. "I'm sure that seeing a creature such as myself would terrorize the large crowds of people up there."

"Are you kidding? They'd probably think you were part of the show!" said Aeris.

"Besides, we'll need all the help we can get," said Cloud more grimly. Red XIII deliberated a moment more, then stepped onboard. The door hissed closed, and the craft shuddered as it left the ground, beginning its course into the sky.

Speakers in the car suddenly came to life. "Kupo! Hi there! I'm Mog the Moogle, and you're on your way to the Gold Saucer, the funnest place on the planet!" said a high-pitched, "cute" voice. Cloud groaned. He could think of few things less appropriate to hear while pursuing a serial killer than an automated introduction by a cartoon character. He looked for an button to shut off the voiceover, but there wasn't one in sight.

"The Gold Saucer is full of fun things to do for everybody! The Wonder Square has all sorts of great arcade games for you kids, and even adults, to play! You can even play my game, Mog's House! Kupo!"

"Will someone shut that damn thing up!" said Barret from the back.

"Already tried. I don't think you can," said Cloud. Barret cursed.

"The Speed Square has the best roller coaster in the world! But it's not just a roller coaster- it's a game, too! As you go through the twists and turns, you can use your light cannon to shoot the targets! Hit enough targets, and you get a prize! Kupo!

'Come to the Event Square! There's always a great play or concert to see here!

'Visit the Tour Square, and ride the gondola to get a bird's eye view of all the spectacular and fun things to see here at the Gold Saucer! We may even shoot some fireworks up for you! Kupo! I love fireworks!

'But don't worry, grown-ups! We have fun things just for you, too! Come to the Casino Square and play at slot machines, blackjack, sabaac, or any of the other 78 games we have available! Kupo! Remember, adults only!"

"Do you think sixteen qualifies as an adult?" said Yuffie.

"Probably not," replied Tifa.

"Oh well. That's what fake I.D.s are for!" said Yuffie.

"We ain't here to play!" snapped Barret. Cloud silently agreed. They needed to keep their minds on the mission. But he found it impossible to make a serious speech to his team about it right now with that infuriating voiceover still going.

"Enjoying yourself so much that you don't want to go home for a while? No problem! Just check into one of our hotels in the Hotel Square! Enjoy a taste of the Far West at the Fen-Shi Pagoda," –Yuffie snorted derisively- "feel the thrill of the night-life at the Midgar Club, or check into the spooooky Haunted Hotel! Kupo! That place is too scary for me!"

"I'll show ya somethin' scary, ya lil' bastard, if ya don' SHUT THE HELL UP!" thundered Barret. But the voice continued as inexorably as a funeral dirge.

"Visit the Battle Square, where you can watch world-class gladiators take on fearsome monsters! Bet on the action and make a fortune! While no one is ever killed, the fighting is real! This Square isn't for the faint of heart!

'And finally, there's the Chocobo Square! Come bet on your favorite jockey and chocobo, and watch them as they race against rivals in the most exciting race event on the face of the planet!

'Well, it looks like you're almost there, so I'll let you enjoy the scenery. Kupo! I'll see you soon in the Gold Saucer!"

"'Bout freakin' time," muttered Barret.

"What scenery could there be? We're in the air!" said Aeris. Cloud was suddenly reminded that they were indeed in a metal canister hurtling upwards through the air, with only a thin wire suspending them from death. A morbid fascination drew him to look down. A mistake.

"Cloud? Are you alright?" said Tifa, as Cloud staggered back from the window with his eyes slammed shut, a hand to his forehead.

"Cloud?" echoed Aeris.

"Fine," Cloud managed, head swimming. He wasn't afraid of heights, was he? It seemed to be the motion of the car hurtling through space affecting him more than anything. He felt suddenly ill, and hoped more than anything that he wouldn't vomit in front of everyone. Barret would never leave him alone about that.

"Oh, Cloud, look!" Aeris sounded excited.

"I'd rather not," he muttered, concentrating on keeping the contents of his stomach stationary.

"Damn" said Barret, awestruck. Cloud figured that Barret being impressed was pretty significant, and he forced his head up. Then he saw what the big deal was.

The Gold Saucer had been an impressive enough sight from thousands of feet down, but it was infinitely more so up close. As the car passed over the lowermost of the several discs, a chain of a hundred spotlights rotated upwards to track its progress. The disc itself glowed with a brilliant golden light, and the air was alive with the sound of thousands of joyous voices screaming out as a roller-coaster car flew by on a track just below them. A neon sign just above the Ropeway lit up in vivid colors, bidding them "Welcome to the Gold Saucer." A barrage of fireworks exploded with an earth-shattering bang immediately above them, turning the night air into a conflagration of glowing sparks. Despite his nausea, Cloud was almost sad to see the Ropeway car leave this glorious spectacle as it reached the apex of its climb from the earth to enter into a straight, long tunnel. The tunnel was dark, rendering them thoroughly blind after the dazzling bombardment of lights moments before. The absence of visual cues skewed his sense of time, but it seemed an eternity to Cloud before the car at last started to slow. The proverbial light at the end soon came into view, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Still feeling inexplicably ill, he couldn't get onto solid ground too soon.

Finally, the car emerged from the tunnel into a huge room. Lights of myriad colors danced all over the walls, but the dominant shade seemed a light passive violet. The room was populated mostly by a large number of customers. They looked to be from all over the world, but all shared a high social status. They stood in long lines chatting animatedly, even at this late hour excited and eagerly waiting to be admitted into the main area of the park. Accompanying them were several mascot characters, apparently grossly overweight chocobos.

The car's doors hissed open, and Cloud wasted no time stepping out of the metallic prison: and right into a storm of colorful balloons that had been suddenly released from above. He irritably batted them aside as he stepped clear of the rail and turned to await his comrades. Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie were clearly delighted at the spectacle of their welcome, Yuffie playfully hitting the balloons around. Barret glowered at the carefree happiness of the others, and Red XIII was predictably impassive.

"Don't get too into all of this," Cloud said to the women in particular, gesturing to the surroundings. "Remember that we're not here to have fun."

"I know, but Cloud, I don't think that Sephiroth was here," said Aeris, a smile stubbornly on her face. "I mean, would he really have passed by all this without doing anything?"

"We don't know what he'd do," replied Cloud impatiently, "and we can't afford to let our guard down."

"Damn right," growled Barret.

"Well, alright then, Captain Paranoia, what do we do now, then?" said Aeris. Cloud glared at her for a moment before responding.

"We ask the employees here if they've seen him."

"And what if they have?" chimed in Tifa. "There's no way we could all afford admission into this place!"

Cloud hadn't thought of that. "Then we'll figure something out from there. Everyone just get in a line and question the employees when you get a chance."

"Except me, I trust," said Red XIII amiably.

"Yeah, you…just wait for us," Cloud said, as he strode off towards one of the lines of customers. All around him the patrons of the amusement park were happy, carefree, completely unaware that they may be entering a slaughterhouse. He glanced around, and saw the human members of the team all waiting in line as well. Barret stared resolutely at the ground, evidently absorbed in thought, but the girls' eyes still flitted excitedly around, and Yuffie was even chatting with some of the teenagers in line with her. Cloud rolled his eyes, momentarily regretting his decision to bring her along, and he reminded himself that he hadn't really had a choice in the matter: otherwise she would likely have turned them into ShinRa just to make a few bucks. Still, it didn't make having such an immature person on the team any easier. Tifa, Aeris and Barret were more than enough, each in their own way.

Cloud forced his mind back to the task: finding Sephiroth. The line had shortened somewhat, and in a few minutes he was up to the ticket-taker, a pretty young blond in a bright pink uniform. She looked at him casually, then intently. Suddenly she smiled dazzlingly at him. Cloud nodded.

"Congratulations!" she said brightly, catching him off guard.

"What?"

"You're our millionth customer of the week!" she said. "You and your entire party get free admission for the night!"

"Free?" Cloud said dumbly, still mentally off balance. She nodded, grinning at him.

"Congratulations!" she repeated patiently.

"So, we just…go in?" he asked. This seemed too easy.

"That's right!" she said. "Just gather any companions you may have and go ahead in! Have fun!"

"Um, okay...thanks," Cloud said. He left his line and crossed the other lines of customers, finding his companions and gesturing them to follow him. He led them over back near to the cable car, where Red XIII was hiding in the shadows.

"What's up?" said Aeris.

"We get in for free," Cloud said.

"What? Why?" asked Tifa.

Cloud shrugged. "Apparently we're the millionth customers or something, so we get in for free."

"Well great!" said Aeris. "What a lucky break!"

"Luck my ass," muttered Barret.

"What do you mean?" said Aeris, slightly put off.

"Don' you think it's convenient for us to be the millionth ones or whatever?" said Barret.

"Well, of course it's convenient. We save money!" said Aeris.

"No way. It's a trap," said Barret.

"A trap? By who, ShinRa?" said Yuffie. Barret nodded.

"Barret, ShinRa doesn't own this place," Tifa said. "The Gold Saucer pays ShinRa for its independence."

"You think it's that easy?" said Barret. "You think ShinRa just takes the money and says 'A'ight, jes' do your own thing? No way! Especially when the Gold Saucer has some people comin' in that they want!"

"But ShinRa doesn't even know that we're here!" said Aeris.

"How d'you know?"

"We haven't run into the Turks or anyone from ShinRa, have we?"

"There's more ta ShinRa than just the Turks! 'Sides, maybe they saw us and decided to do somethin' 'side from just attackin'."

Aeris sighed in exasperation before turning to Cloud. "I probably shouldn't even bother, but what do you think, Cloud?"

"It does seem rather suspicious. I see where Barret's coming from," said Cloud. "It's hard to say."

"Come ON!" exclaimed Yuffie. "What's with you guys? Can't you just accept that something lucky happened to us?"

"No!" said Barret. "When you're up against some psycho superman killer and a world-controlling corporation, you don' get lucky!"

"So that's it, then? We're not going in?" asked Tifa.

"No, we are," said Cloud. The rest of the group turned to him in surprise.

"Say what now?" said Barret.

"Trap or not, we can't just ignore the possibility of Sephiroth being in there. We'll go in, split up, and look for anything suspicious, either ShinRa or Sephiroth related. Barret, do you have those walkie-talkies?"

Without a word, Barret reached into his pack and produced four small black devices. "These are PHS walkie-talkies, pretty new technology" said Cloud. "We can use them to keep in touch with each other over short distances. Just tune them to the same frequency, press this button here, talk into it, and anyone else with a PHS in range will be able to hear you."

"Wow," said Yuffie, staring at the small machines.

"We only have the four, so some of us will have to work in groups," said Cloud. "I'll go with…Aeris. Tifa, you stick with Yuffie. Barret and Red XIII will be on their own." He handed out the radios to the groups. "Tune them to frequency seven, and we'll be set."

"Not exactly," said Red XIII. "I cannot carry this."

"Oh. Right," said Cloud. "Well, you can stay here and help coordinate between us, I guess." Red XIII nodded. "Okay, be efficient, and be careful."

"And try to have a little fun!" added Aeris.

"Dammit! We ain't here to have fun!" said Barret, turning away. "We're after Sephiroth!"

Aeris came up behind him, peering around his massive arm to look into his face. "Barret, it's an amusement park!" she said cajolingly. "You have to have a little fun!"

Barret cursed vehemently. "Fine! Play all you fuckin' want!" And with that he stormed off inside.

"That went well," said Yuffie brightly.

"Don't you think that was a bit much, Aeris?" Tifa asked worriedly. "He's been through a lot recently, with his hometown."

"He just needs some time to himself, I think," said Aeris. "So, shall we?"

Cloud nodded. "Let's go. Remember, be careful." They passed by the attendants and entered the Gold Saucer.

They were greeted with a large circular antechamber, entirely yellow, with a large crowd of people milling about a series of holes in the floor around the far edge. Each hole was labeled, and Cloud saw that the labels corresponded to the names of the different Squares of the Gold Saucer. There was no sign of Barret.

"So now what?" said Tifa. "Where do we go from here?"

"D'uh! You jump in!" said Yuffie. And with a "Yippee!" she leapt into the hole labeled "Casino Square," and disappeared.

"Yuffie, wait!" said Tifa, but she was gone. Shaking her head, Tifa slowly walked over to the hole. Seeing that the other customers seemed to be doing the same, both jumping into and popping out of holes, she tentatively lowered her feet into the hole and then dropped in.

"So what are we waiting for?" said Aeris. And with that she grabbed Cloud's arm and, dragging him over to one of the holes, pulled him in after her.

The hole turned out to be a long tube slide, and Cloud felt himself hurtling down, down into the unknown. He had a sudden unpleasant vision of the slide dumping him outside the Gold Saucer to leave him to hurtle thousands of feet down to the earth. But within moments he fell from the tube onto a cushioned mat on firm ground, landing right beside Aeris. She smiled as she brushed her disheveled hair from her face. "What a ride!"

"Yeah," said Cloud, shaking his head as he climbed to his feet. They were in a small courtyard with a few people lounging on park benches, parents watching their children run about, a couple making out, a grungy looking man staring at the ground, most likely having just lost his last gil at the slots. But out of the corner of his eye, Cloud spied someone else moving towards them. But when he turned to look, the someone wasn't so much a someone as a something. Hopping towards them was what appeared to be a huge white stuffed animal. It seemed to be a bloated, overgrown moogle with a goofy grin on its face, two protruding fangs only serving to make it cute rather than intimidate. It lacked a moogle's antenna and had disproportionately large limbs and torso, compared to a real moogle's larger head, but its white fur and tiny purple wings definitely identified it as a moogle nonetheless, or at least some strange mutated version of one. As the thing neared, Cloud saw that riding atop the moogle was…a cat. Cloud blinked and quickly rubbed his eyes, but there it was: a small cat grinning at them from atop the moogle. The cat was black with white paws, face, and belly, and wore a tiny golden crown and scarlet cape.

"Hiya there, and aren't you a lovely couple? How 'bout it, want me to read your fortune? A bright fortune, a happy fortune! Just don't hold it against me if it doesn't come true, know what I mean?"

The cat had definitely just spoken to him. "Um…what?" said Cloud.

"Oh, so sorry, where are my manners?" said the cat in its squeaky voice, striking its forehead with his paw. The moogle simultaneously did the same. "The name's Cait Sith, and this here's my pal Mog! We're a fortune-telling team! So how 'bout it, should I look into the stars for ya? Usually I charge for my services, of course, but for a charming pair such as yourselves, it's on the house! Whaddaya say?"

"Oh, let's do it Cloud!" said Aeris excitedly.

"What's the point?" said Cloud. "He's obviously a phony."

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Cait Sith.

"How do you know?" said Aeris to Cloud.

"What was that?" said Cait Sith, who continued to be ignored.

"It'll be fun!" continued Aeris.

Cloud was still suspicious. He had been given one too many services for free today for his comfort. Barret was right, it seemed that they were being guided on this path by being allowed to do so for free. But still, he couldn't see that the cat giving them a bogus prediction could be harmful in any way. "Alright, go for it, cat."

"Ah, change of heart, then? Okay, let's do it!" The moogle started to rock back and forth, swinging its arms, as the cat did the same atop. In a few moments they stopped, and a small slip of paper emerged from a previously unseen slot in the moogle's head. "My talents will speak for themselves, I think," said Cait Sith smugly, as he retrieved the paper and handed it to Cloud. Cloud read from the paper.

"Ordinary luck: an active fortune. Give in to the good will of others, and something big will happen after summer…what the hell is this?"

"Huh?" said Cait Sith, snatching the paper back and reading it. "Whoops. Let me try again." The pair of them went through the same bizarre ritual or whatever it was, and another slip of paper emerged. Cloud grabbed it. "Be wary of forgetfulness. Your lucky color is…blue? Forget it," he said, tossing the paper aside. He started walking for the tubes to get away from this creature. Aeris reluctantly followed.

"No, wait! One more chance!" said Cait Sith. "It takes Mog a few tries to get warmed up!"

Without hesitation, Cloud leapt into one of the tubes at random. Another long and winding ride followed before he was spit out onto another mat, this one in front of a long staircase up to an arena-type building. Neon lettering advertised it as the Battle Square, and there were flashing neon depictions of various warriors and monsters clashing.

An all-too familiar squeaky voice spoke from behind him. "Please, just one more chance?" The moogle, with its cat companion lay on the mat beside Aeris, all having just emerged from the tube.

"What's your problem?" demanded Cloud. "Leave us alone!"

"Cloud! Don't be mean!" chided Aeris before turning to the cat. "Okay, give it one more try," she said in a gentler tone.

"Yes ma'am!" said Cait Sith, saluting. He rocked back and forth with the moogle yet again, this time doubly fast. The slip of paper emerged, and the cat snatched it up and handed it over to Cloud.

"What you pursue will be yours, if you are prepared to lose something dear."

Silence greeted this announcement. "What do you suppose that means?" said Aeris.

"It's just some random fortune," Cloud said, shrugging, dropping the slip of paper. "Supposed to sound vague and mysterious."

"No!" said Cait Sith, shaking its head. "I've been doing this for a long time, and I've never gotten anything like this before. Mog's only supposed to give positive fortunes, you know, to make the customers happy. This one's new."

"Yeah right," thought Cloud, and was about to say so when he heard a cry of pain. He turned to see someone tumbling down the long staircase up to the arena. He ran up as the unfortunate individual came to a rest. The person was bloody all over, obviously injured previous to her fall. The wounds appeared to be gunshots. She had survived the firefight, but Cloud saw that the fall had claimed her life, breaking her neck. Was this some sick trick in keeping with the fighting theme of this area? He didn't know, but this woman certainly seemed real enough.

"It's him…" said Aeris.

Cloud shook his head. "This woman's been shot. Sephiroth would never use a gun." He sprinted up the stairs two at a time, all senses alert as he entered the massive Battle arena building.

It may not have been Sephiroth, but the only comparable sight Cloud could recall was Sephiroth's massacre at ShinRa headquarters. Bodies were strewn all over the lobby, blood spattered over all the walls, floors, counters, and even the high ceiling. It was nearly impossible to take a step without trampling a corpse, slipping on bodily fluids, or crunching down on ejected bullet casings. He was vaguely aware of Aeris and Cait Sith approaching from behind, but all were speechless at the sight before them.

Suddenly, a groan emerged from behind a desk. It was another woman, apparently an employee of the Gold Saucer, on the brink of death. Cloud beckoned Aeris to come over, and she hastened to comply. She bent down over the woman and Cloud stepped back to allow her to concentrate on her healing magic. The woman muttered something that he couldn't catch, then her head fell to the floor and she was silent. Cloud didn't need to examine her more closely to know that she was dead, beyond any help that Aeris could provide. But Aeris remained kneeling by her, frozen.

"What did she say?" Cloud asked after a moment. Aeris slowly turned to face him. Cloud saw that her face was completely pale. She spoke slowly. "She said something about the murderer…a man with a gun for an arm."

So, a bit of an extended hiatus. Bet you thought I was gone for good, didn't you? Shame on you. Actually, I was wondering if I would ever get back to Cloud and Friends myself. But somehow I got the urge to start writing again, and so I finally finished this stinkin' chapter. As you might have noticed, I'm doing Cait Sith differently than the game did. In the game, he was a whiny, annoying character who I basically never used. However, he had one of the coolest theme songs: perfect smooth, sleezy con man music that was entirely out of place with his stupid, pansyish character. So I'm actually making the character fit the music he was given in the game. I guess we'll see how he works out.


	31. The Fugitive

The Fugitive

The trio was silent.

"I can't believe it," Aeris said. "Barret…"

"He was pretty upset when he left…and I guess he wouldn't like seeing people having fun when he was like that," said Cloud. But he was having trouble believing his own words. No matter how furious Barret got, Cloud had never known him to do anything against his inherently idealistic nature, much less slaughter a hundred innocent people. This was completely out of character. But still, a man could only be pushed so far…

"It's all my fault," said Aeris, still kneeling by the now dead woman. "I told him we were going to go play. I made him mad."

"None of this is your fault. There's no way anyone could have predicted he would do…this."

"Um, 'scuse me," said the previously forgotten Cait Sith, still astride his moogle. "So you all know the guy who did all this?"

Aeris dumbly nodded. "Looks like it," seconded Cloud. The gregarious cat may have been about to respond, but was pre-empted by a shout from behind them.

"Hold it right there!"

Cloud whirled around to see four security guards in yellow hats and uniforms running up the stairs towards them, submachine guns aimed directly at them.

"You're under arrest! Put your hands above your head!"

"Guys, you got it all wrong! We just got here ourselves!" said Cait Sith.

"This is your last chance! Hands above your head!"

Suddenly, Aeris turned and ran deeper into the arena building, closely followed by Cait Sith on his moogle. Cloud stared for a moment incredulously. Nothing would make them look guiltier than running! But he could hardly leave Aeris. Swearing, he ran after them to the end of the lobby and through another pair of large double doors at the end. They found themselves in a series of winding tunnels, which Aeris navigated at random as far as Cloud could tell. When they exited, they found themselves in none other than the arena itself: a huge paved ring surrounded by hundreds of seats for the fight's spectators. From their location, the only exits were the way they had come, and an identical-looking tunnel opposite it. Cloud was about to make for the opposite tunnel when three huge robots emerged to block the path. The machines were simple, with just one leg, two arms, and a head unadorned save with one red light, but they looked very solid and built to last. The three of them skidded to a halt before the robots, and the four armed guards came up behind them. Gritting his teeth, Cloud calculated the odds. There was one more guard than robot, but the machines looked much more formidable than a relatively fragile human body. He drew his sword and turned to face the guards. He was about to charge when he heard Aeris scream behind him. He whirled around to see her in the clutches of one of the robots. Cait Sith tried to flee, but was snatched up by the second machine. With a roar Cloud charged the machine that held Aeris, but was laid low by a three-round burst of 10mm bullets to his back. He tried to climb to his feet, but was promptly scooped up by the third robot. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the middle of the floor. The machine holding Cait Sith leapt into the hole, carrying the moogle and cat with it. Aeris' robot approached the hole.

"Please! We didn't do it!" said Aeris.

One of the guards laughed humorlessly. "Save it for the trial, girl. If you ever have one!" With that, the second robot descended into the hole. Cloud tried to struggle, but the robot clenched him so tightly in its metallic grip that he could scarcely breathe, much less do anything to escape. He could do nothing but watch as his robot leapt into the air, then plummeted into the abyss.

Barret glowered at the laughing, cheering audience watching the play. His fist and jaw clenched as he thought of the remnants of his hometown. Just a few miles away from the ropeway that had brought them here was a town full of destitute innocents, screwed by ShinRa and crying out for aid, and here were all these rich pricks, sitting back in their cushioned seats and escaping reality with some stupid-ass play. North Corel didn't have that option: reality stared them in the face 24/7. And Myrna didn't even have that…

He stormed out of the theatre and threw a fat man out of the way to make his way towards the transportation tubes. He remembered hearing something about a Battle Square in that idiot voiceover in the cable car. It sounded like a good place to blow off some steam, which he desperately needed. He emerged into the lobby, found the tube labeled "Battle Square," roughly shoved his way through the crowd, and hopped in.

"What the hell happened here?" demanded the owner of the Gold Saucer as he stormed into the Battle Square, flanked by an armed escort. Dio was a entertainer, but he was also a businessman who ran a tight ship. Things like this did NOT happen in his park.

"We're trying to establish that now, sir," said one of the four guards already at the scene, walking up from the computer terminal over which the other three bent. "We're checking out the security records."

Another guard at the computer spoke up. "The cameras were all damaged during the attack, but we've still got audio recordings. We've heard several people screaming about a man with a gun on his arm before they were killed."

"Gun on his arm? And they let this guy into the park?" demanded Dio. "Find whoever let the guy in and question him."

"Already been done, sir," said a guard. "She said that she noticed the gun on his arm, but he said he couldn't remove it, and she said that he had no ammunition, so she went ahead and let him in."

"No ammunition, eh?" said Dio. The guard shrugged, and Dio cursed. "Have that girl fired. So have there been other incidents, any trace of this guy?"

"No sir, but we did capture some people we believe to be comrades of his. We've matched two of them to members of a group of five who entered earlier tonight, one of whom was a large black male with a gun attached to his arm. The third is an employee of the Gold Saucer."

"An inside job, eh? Damn," said Dio. "Monitor video surveillance in all areas of the park. I want these psychos found." As if on cue, another figure charged onto the scene from the open front doors. The man was huge, easily over six feet and seemingly as broad. Most importantly, on his right arm, in place of a hand was a steel chain gun.

"'Ey, there's a dead woman on the…shit…" said Barret as he took in the scene around him.

"Hold it right there!" said one of the six guards on the scene, as they all raised their guns. "Hands in the air!"

"Wha? What're you talkin' 'bout?" demanded Barret.

"NOW!" commanded the guard.

"I didn' do it!"

"This is your last chance! Hands up, now!"

Barret had little choice. He could take out several of them if he fought, but with six guns pointed at him it would be a fight he wouldn't win. Grudgingly he raised his massive arms as he wracked his mind for a plan.

"A gun on his arm. Never would have believed it," said the official-looking man in a suit who stood behind two of the guards.

"So that's why ya think it's me? Jes' cause I got a gun for an arm?"

"We know it was a man with a gun for an arm, and we've already got some of your friends at the scene. The case is pretty grim for you," said a guard as he stepped forward with a pair of handcuffs.

"But I didn'…" started Barret. Then his face fell, and he gaped with astonishment. "No…" he said, thunderstruck.

"That's right," said the guard approaching with the handcuffs.

Barret's mind raced as he struggled to come to terms with the news. He knew what he had to do. "Look, I didn' do it. But I know who did, an' I'm gonna prove it."

The guard with the cuffs laughed. "I think you'll be hard pressed to do that when you're…" But he was cut off when Barret slammed an elbow into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He went down wheezing. The two guards nearest Barret rushed forward, but he took them down with a single side-swipe of his arm. He leapt to the side as the remaining three guards started firing, returning the fire in mid-air. His bullets ripped through the computer, sending sparks flying and prompting the two guards and the suited man to duck for cover. He used this split second to spring out of the building, back towards the transport tubes. But instead of continuing down the stairs, he paused and stepped to the side of the doorway. He heard the inevitable footsteps of one of the guards pursuing. He waited until the footsteps were right upon him, then stuck his arm out into the doorway, neatly clotheslining the guard and downing him as well. The last guard would no doubt be obligated to stay with the important guy, so Barret charged down the stairs towards the tubes, heart and mind racing. He was sure that his comrades being at the scene was just a coincidence: they wouldn't have done this. But Dyne…could it really be true? But why would he do this? He had no answers. He only knew two things. He had to find his remaining comrades to warn them, and he had to find Dyne.

He was popped out of the tube into the plush-carpeted Casino Square. Hundreds of patrons circulated through a wide variety of green gambling tables and slot machines, and the air was alive with ringing bells and groans of disappointment, naturally many more of the latter than the former. Everyone was blowing their fortunes here just as before, clearly unaware that a huge massacre had just occurred elsewhere in the park. Either the administration hadn't gotten around to clearing them out yet, or they decided that the inevitable ensuing panic would be more hazardous than a killer on the loose. At any rate, the normal behavior of the people was rather jarring to Barret after what he had just witnessed.

He vaguely remembered Yuffie mentioning something about this place. He didn't know if they had been the ones caught at the scene, but it was the only lead he had. But sure enough, he soon heard a familiar high voice muttering about "stupid age limits". He turned and grabbed Yuffie as she passed by him. "Hey watch the hands…oh," she said, recognizing him. "What's up?"

"Where's Tifa?" Barret demanded without preamble. Yuffie scanned the crowd for a moment, then pointed. There was Tifa, making her way through the crowds, clearly looking for anything suspicious. Ignoring her indignant protests, he roughly dragged Yuffie through the crowd of gamblers over to Tifa.

"Barret, hey!" said Tifa, surprised. "How are you feel-"

"Ain't no time for that," he cut her off roughly. "We got problems." And he proceeded to explain the situation involving the massacre at the Battle Square. They gaped as he finished.

"So…did you do it?" asked Yuffie frightfully.

"Course I didn' do it!" Barret exclaimed. "But I know who did."

"How do you know? You said you got there after it all happened," said Tifa.

Barret hesitated before answering. "I don' know, but I'm 'fraid I do. When I had the surgery to get this thing-" he gestured to his gun-arm "-the doc told me there was only one other person who'd ever had the operation before: guy by the name of Dyne.

"Dyne? Didn't you say that was your best friend from Corel?" asked Tifa.

"Dyne, Barret, come quick! Corel's under attack!"

"What?" said Barret and Dyne in unison. "What're you talking 'bout, man?" demanded Barret.

"It's ShinRa! They're burning the town! Killing everyone!" said the young messenger, still panting from his run. "You have to come help!"

"Shit, no…" said Barret, thunderstruck. "It's actually happenin'."

"Damn, we really need some backup now!" said Dyne Augsand is only a mile or two away…"

"No time!" said the messenger. "If we don't get back now, there'll be no Corel left to help! You guys have gotta come with me! Everyone looks up to you, you could rally people to fight back! They're getting massacred without you!"

"You heard him, Dyne! Let's go!" said Barret. Dyne nodded, and they followed the messenger back towards Corel. But as the messenger climbed over the crest of the hill in front of them, he froze. A split second later he crumpled to the ground, bloody holes gaping in his chest.

"Ambush!" said Dyne. "Dammit, what do we do?"

"Down there!" said Barret, pointing. Below the hill they were on was another, narrower path. It was a less direct route to Corel, and more dangerous as it was right near a sheer drop-off, but certainly preferable to one with ShinRa soldiers. The two leapt down to the lower path and started running. Seconds later gunfire rang out in the mountain air.

"ARGH!" said Dyne. He stumbled for a few steps, trying to keep on his feet despite the bullets in his leg, but he failed and fell right off the edge of the path.

"NO!" yelled Barret, diving after him. He skidded along the rock ground and barely managed to grab his friend's left hand just before he fell down the hundred-foot drop.

"Barret…go on," groaned Dyne.

"No way! You got a wife and daughter back there! You gotta save Eleanor an' Marlene!"  
"You're right. No way ShinRa's takin' them from me," Dyne said firmly. He was starting to pull himself up when more gunshots sounded. Barret and Dyne yelled out as one as the bullets ripped through their clasped hands. Their hands were destroyed.

"NOOOOOO!" cried Barret as his friend fell helplessly into the abyss, to his death.

…or so Barret had thought. But here was a murder committed by a man with a gun-arm, in the same area as Corel. And the doctor had told him that he had only performed the procedure once before, on the left hand of a local of the area. It had been Dyne's left hand that was destroyed to Barret's right, and there were precious few locals that were left alive after the slaughter. Barret knew it was him, knew that his friend was still alive. But this? The Dyne he had known would never have done this. But people changed. Barret himself had certainly been affected by the events of four years ago, and he at least had Marlene to help him through it. But Dyne, who had lost his town, his wife, his baby daughter, and had been nearly killed…who knew what he might have become?

"Barret? Is it the same Dyne?" said Tifa tentatively.

Barret was shaken out of his reverie. "Ain't no time to 'splain now. I've gotta find the killer so I can prove it wasn' me."

Tifa nodded. "We'll help."

But Barret shook his head. "No. You two get outta here, try an' lie low. They already 'rrested Cloud an' Aeris, can't have 'em gettin' you too."

"They got Cloud?" said Tifa, surprised. Barret nodded. "Well then we have to help him!" she continued.

"No way!" said Barret. "Spiky ass can take care of himself, an' we can't risk you two gettin' caught too by tryin' to help him!"

"Well then what about you? You-"

"No! I've gotta deal with this myself!" said Barret. "You two just try not ta get caught, and radio on the PHS if you're in trouble!" Tifa nodded, clearly uncertain, and Barret ran off towards the tubes. He looked at the names of the different Squares, considering. To where would a murderer on the run flee? Or where would Dyne go?

A sharp pain suddenly pierced his side to run through his entire body, and Barret went down with a grunt. He hadn't heard the guard approach with the tazer. The weapon would have knocked almost any man out cold, but the guard obviously hadn't counted on so formidable an opponent as Barret. In an instant he was up with a roar. He slammed his fist into the guard's face, the bones of which were immediately shattered. There were two more yellow-clad guards, obviously not expecting that their opponent would still be fighting. They fumbled for their guns, but Barret was quicker. He grabbed one by the shoulders and swirled around, battering the second guard with his feet, knocking him to the ground. Barret hurled his stunned makeshift club away and leapt into the nearest tube. He hurtled through the tunnel, emerging back at the Event Square. He made his way to the walkway overlooking the stage and arena seating where the audience sat.

The play he had observed earlier was still going on. The audience watched with stupid grins, clapping like seals at every scene change, completely unaware that many innocent people lay dead, others were in prison, and yet another was running for his life and freedom, trying to find the sole guilty man.

"Well, this is just grand," said Cloud, turning his boot upside down to empty it of sand. The luxury amusement park was actually built in the middle of the Augrifani Desert, one of the largest and most barren areas in the world. And that was precisely where their robot captors had deposited them, right at the base of the massive pillar which supported the park. "Why the hell did you run, Aeris?"

"I didn't want to get arrested!" she said.

"Well, your solution sure worked out, didn't it?"

"Guys, guys!" said Cait Sith, raising his arms along with the moogle's. "Fighting won't do us any good! Then again, not much will…"

"Why? What is this place?" asked Cloud, looking around. They were not the only ones down here. Despite the total lack of any naturally-occurring building materials, there was a smattering of wooden shacks in the area. Several shady-looking characters milling around the unlikely camp started to approach to size up the fresh meat, particularly Aeris.

"The Gold Saucer prison, or the closest thing it's got," explained the cat. "Anyone who's caught cheating or fighting or whatever is chucked down here until a trial can be arranged. Course, who knows when that'll be."

"What do you mean?" asked Aeris nervously.

"Well, the Gold Saucer doesn't have to answer to any other authorities, so they don't necessarily feel that they have to be too prompt with their trials. If they wanted to keep someone down here for life, well, they pretty much could. Now I'm pretty sure that's never happened," Cait Sith said quickly in response to Aeris' scared countenance. "But still, I'd say we have a few months down here, easy."

"Dammit, we don't have that much time!" said Cloud. "We're on a mission here!"

"Mission? What are you talking about?" asked Cait Sith.

"None of your damn business!" said Cloud, getting to his feet and moving towards the huts. The crowd of criminals eyed him, formidable looks on their faces. Cloud was suddenly aware of one of them sneaking up behind him. He waited until the thug was directly behind him. When Cloud sensed the hand reaching for his pocket he whirled about and smashed his studded glove into the man's face. He crumpled with a cry, and the sand was soon dyed red with blood streaming from his nose. Cloud stamped on his chest once for dramatic effect. He turned back towards the convicts. They now made way for him as he approached. He made his way towards one of the buildings, noticeably less shabby than the others, and knocked on the door. A slit in the door at eye level appeared, and a pair of eyes peered out before opening the door. A well-built man, the warden, no doubt, dressed in what appeared to be a safari suit stood before him. He gazed down upon Cloud impassionedly. "Ah, right. You'll be one of the new arrivals, then. Murderers, are you?"

Cloud grabbed the man by his shirt and threw him to the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant, but Cloud was right upon him, beating him into submission. The warden was tough, but still no match for the ex-SOLDIER, and Cloud soon had him in a headlock on the ground. "How do I get out of here?" demanded the mercenary.

The warden wheezed "You can't." Cloud tightened his grip. "No…really! Even if you kill me…the elevator's the only way back…up, and that'll only come…with permission from above."

"How about getting out through the desert?"

"Can't…be done…hundred miles in any direction…never make it."

Cloud released the warden, shoving his head into the sand before walking off. So they were stuck here until the administration got around to giving them a trial, assuming they even felt like it. By the time they were at last freed, Sephiroth could be across the globe, all traces of his whereabouts long gone. And there wasn't a thing they could do about it, except hope that their friends above could think of something…and avoid capture themselves.

Barret jogged along the walkway, ignoring the stairs down to the audience. He could likely avoid detection in the hundreds of onlookers, and perhaps the murderer (he couldn't bring himself to think of "the killer" and "Dyne" as the same) had done so, but this didn't seem right somehow. Dyne wasn't the type to hide and cower in fear. No, he was the type to…

Barret's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked down and saw several guards moving through the crowd, looking up at him. Cursing, he turned around to double back to the tubes – only to have five guards emerge from the tube antechamber. He turned back and started sprinting blindly away, hoping there was another exit along the walkway, and also hoping that the guards would refrain from opening fire to avoid scaring the audience. The second hope was realized, as Barret received the sound of pursuing footsteps instead of a barrage of bullets in the back. And then the first hope materialized: a metal ladder mounted on the wall, leading upwards. Without hesitation Barret grabbed on and started climbing. But while his long limbs gave him an advantage in the ground chase, his one hand gave him a considerable disadvantage here, and the guards were soon right behind him on the ladder. Barret desperately lashed down at their leader with his foot, and received a satisfying smashing sound as boot connected with face. This bought a few seconds which Barret used to rush up the ladder as fast as his arm would move. He made his way onto the catwalk at the ladder's end just as the bloody-faced leader was grabbing at his foot.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" yelled Barret, and grabbed the ladder. Adrenaline surging through him, he shattered the metal bolts holding the ladder to the wall and threw it away from him. The guards screamed as they plummeted through space to the ground far below. So much for avoiding panicking the audience, Barret thought smugly. That bought him a bit of time, though it also trapped him up here. There had better be another exit. After searching the catwalk for a few moments, Barret spotted a metal door in the wall, and wasted no time in entering. He found himself in a concrete stairwell, dimly lit by a handful of bare light bulbs on the low ceiling. He crouched as he made his way up the stairs, listening closely for any sounds of pursuit, but he seemed to finally be alone, for now. The stairway terminated in a bare hallway, and Barret saw that he in fact wasn't alone. The hallway was occupied by three dead guards, sprawled out on the floor, weapons uselessly gripped in their cold hands. He was clearly on the right track. Shaking his head, Barret bent over to retrieve one of their MP5s for use as a secondary weapon, should he need it. He then looked back to his surroundings. A door to his left lay open, and peeking inside, he saw it to be a small security room, doubtless where the dead guards had emerged from.

The room was dark and sparsely decorated cell of a guard post. A handful of rolling chairs and a small stainless steel table with half-finished soda cans and potato chip bags were the only features aside from the reason for the room's existence, a computer terminal which consisted primarily of monitors displaying feed from surveillance cameras in this area of the park. Barret glanced over the screens, hoping for a glance of Dyne. But he saw no suspicious figures in any of the screens. In fact, many of the screens showed nothing at all but static. Frowning, he leaned closer to the terminal to read the captions below the screens. Many of the locations described were all too familiar: "Seating Area: Upper Walkway," "Seating Area: Access Catwalk," "Administration Area: Lower Stairwell," "Administration Area: Access Hallway 1." Barret glanced outside back into the hallway, and sure enough, he saw several surveillance cameras. Walking closer to one, he saw a small golden object on the ground below it. He bent down to examine it, and it was just what he had suspected: a shell casing. The murderer had followed Barret's same route systematically eliminating all the video cameras in his way to prevent the security forces from getting a good look at him. "An' tha's why they couldn' tell it wasn' me," Barret muttered to himself. Naturally if the guards had no visual description to go on, Barret would seem to fit the bill: a huge black man with a flaming skull tattoo and, most importantly, a gun on his arm. It wasn't him, but it was someone smart enough to know how not to get caught, at least not immediately. Dyne had always been the observant and resourceful one…

"No…" said Barret, even as he was becoming increasingly convinced that it was true. Mind full of turmoil, he stumbled back into the guard room to look at what other cameras were out. The list was relatively short: "Administration Area: Roof Access Stairwell" and "Event Square Roof." Barret always liked to be right in the thick of the action, but Dyne had always the calm that heights provided. How he could be so distant from the chaos going on below, and observe the world from afar. Barret immediately left the room and strode purposefully down the hallway. The hall ended and branched to the left and right, but at the end he saw a door cracked open labeled "Roof Access." Without hesitation he opened the door and climbed the stairs, which continued for several minutes until he emerged out of an open trapdoor onto the roof of the disc.

The roof, like the rest of the Gold Saucer, glowed with a brilliant golden light, in addition to the myriad colors of the thousands of other various lights which it shot into the night sky in a valiant effort to dispel the encroaching night. After his eyes adjusted to the dazzling display, Barret soon noticed a figure standing in one of the few spots on the roof not reached by any of these lights. He was a wiry white man clad in soiled green muscle shirt and jeans, unkempt brown hair blowing in the whistling wind as he stood looking out over the bustling activity of the park. His left leg seemed to bend at an odd angle, and his right arm was on his hip, but his left hung down at his side, as instead of a hand he had what was unmistakably a rifle.

"Dyne!" Barret called out over the sound of the wind. The man stiffened and stood up straighter.

"Now there's a voice I haven't heard for years," he said in a gravelly voice that sounded like it hadn't been exercised for a long time. "Voice I'll never forget." He didn't turn around. "Knew you survived, though. Heard about your little adventures in Midgar. So you just ran off and left me fer dead, then?"

"I thought you were already dead," said Barret painfully. "I tried to get back to town, but I was too late…they burned everything"

"You think I don't know that?" snapped Dyne, turning to face Barret for the first time. Barret did a double take. Dyne's face was no longer the face he remembered. It was unmistakably the same narrow, angular structure, but it was now much more drawn and lined, and the brown eyes which reflected the dancing lights like flickering flames now seemed as black as coal, and as lifeless.

"We've got some malfunctions with the lights on top the Event Square. Seem to be having some trouble staying on all the way."

"Nah, doesn't seem like they're malfunctioning. Almost like something's blocking the lights."

Frowning, the supervisor stepped over to the computer terminal and looked at the appropriate monitor. "The roof camera's out…get me another shot of that roof somehow."

In a few moments one of the mechanics spoke up. "Okay, I've got manual control of a camera on the exterior of the Tour Square, I'll point it over there and zoom in, and…what the..?"

The supervisor shoved him aside to look at the monitor. "Looks like shadows blocking the lights. Like…wait, are those people up there?"

"Dyne, what're you doin' here?"

"Makin' a killing," he said. He started laughing crazily, hysterically. "I killed them," said the new Dyne, voice still shaking with laughter. "A bunch of people. Random people, strangers. Just…walked in…and shot 'em all!" he managed before bursting again into uncontrollable laughter. Barret stared in horror. Who was this man who had once been his best friend in the world?

"Dyne…why?"

"Why? Why? Why the hell do you care?" Dyne snarled. "Doesn't matter anyway! This world don't make any sense. ShinRa rules, while Corel dies. That make any fuckin' sense to you? Why does anyone need a reason for anything?"

"Dyne, you can' jes' go an' kill 'people!" exclaimed Barret, hardly believing what he was hearing. "That ain't gonna fix anything!"

"Fix? Who said anything about fixing?" said Dyne, black eyes gleaming. "I wanna destroy. Destroy all these carefree rich jackasses, destroy ShinRa, destroy everything, everyone. This just seemed like a good place to start," he said with a chuckle. "Look at all them down there," he said, gesturing to the activity in the park below. Throwin' money away just to play their fuckin' games. Don't even know that about a hundred people just got killed right next door, just like they didn't know about Corel being burned to the ground. And if they did know, would they even care? Don't care about anything as long as they got enough money to keep 'em fat and happy. Shit. We lost everything, lost our town, our friends, our families, and they don't even FUCKING CARE!" he screamed, firing his gun-arm into the air.

"Dyne, we didn' lose everything," said Barret, seeing the first possibility of getting through to him. "Marlene, Dyne…Marlene's still alive."

Dyne stared at Barret, an expression almost like hope crossing his face before it was taken by a contortion of rage. He screamed with fury and charged forward with an uneven but still quick stride, opening fire at Barret. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT HER! DON'T YOU LIE TO ME!" Completely surprised, Barret had no chance to dodge the shots. But Dyne's aim was wild, and the shots missed. He threw up his elbow to deflect Dyne's charge, but didn't counterattack. Dyne hit him and bounced off, but quickly recovered and resumed firing. Barret yelled with pain as high-caliber bullets ripped through shoulder and side.

"It's two men, and they're fighting!" said one of the mechanics.

"What the hell?" said the supervisor. "Call security and get a team up there right away!"

Barret went down to a knee, holding his injured side with his one hand as Dyne again came at him. Gritting his teeth against the pain, as Dyne came up on him again Barret shot up, throwing up his gun-arm in an uppercut right into Dyne's jaw. Metal clanged against bone and Dyne flew back, right into one of the rotating spotlights. Barret ran up and pinned him down before he had a chance to recover. Dyne struggled. His gaunt frame belied his strength, augmented by adrenaline and sheer fury, but he still couldn't move the full weight of Barret.

"Dyne, I ain't lyin', and I'll prove it," said Barret. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, opening it up to a photograph before giving it to Dyne. Dyne snatched it with his free hand and looked at it. His mouth dropped open as the color drained from his face.

"Oh, shit…oh…my…where…where did you get this?" he stuttered in a choked voice.

"Took it myself jes' a few months 'go," said Barret, rolling off of Dyne to sit down on the roof. "See? She's alive."

Dyne slowly rose to a sitting position, face blank. "But…how?"

"I found her. After you fell I ran back ta town, but I was too late. It was all burnin'. Weren't even any more ShinRa left, they'd already left. So I jes' started runnin' around, seein' if anyone in town had made it. Your an' my houses…they was gone. Myrna and Eleanor…it was too late. But Marlene…Dyne, Marlene was jes' sittin' there in the streets, cryin'. I thought you were already dead, so I picked her up and ran outta there. She's been with me ever since."

"With you? Is she here?" Dyne demanded frantically.

"No, not here," said Barret. "There's a real good lady back in Midgar who's takin' care of her while I'm away. Hey, Dyne, let's go see her, huh? Let's go see her together."

For the briefest instant Barret caught a glimpse of hope, of possible happiness pass through Dyne's eyes at this thought. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Dyne shook his head. "No…can't do that."

"Why not?" said Barret, frightened. He'd thought this would win Dyne over for sure.

"Think about it, Barret," Dyne said quietly. "She was one year old then. One fucking year old. How much do you think she remembers? You think she remembers the attack? You think she remembers her mom? Even if I did make it outta here a free man, you think she'd remember me? No…you're…" he struggled. He swallowed hard several times. "You're…you're her dad now. Besides, these hands…" He paused, holding out his hands and laughing quietly. "This hand, I guess…it's too stained…I've got no right to hold her with this hand."

"Dyne, man…you're still her dad. Nothin'll ever change that."

But Dyne again shook his head. He was silent for a few moments, and then reached into his pocket. He withdrew a golden ring studded with a small but beautiful diamond. "Eleanor's engagement ring…give this to her. And this," he said, reaching into his shirt to pull out a chain with a simple metal cross on the end. "I guess I won't be needin' this where I'm going. "Tell her…tell her it's from a real good friend…who knew her when she was a kid."

Barret nodded solemnly, accepting the items from Dyne. But something Dyne said bothered him. "Whaddaya mean, 'won' be needin' this where you're goin'?'"

But Dyne didn't answer, instead slowly rising to his feet. Barret followed suit. Dyne approached him and grabbed hold of his vest, pulling Barret to him and staring him in the eye with a wild, intense stare. "Barret, you take care of her. You take fucking good care of her. Don't ever…don't you ever make her cry."

"Of course," said Barret, taken aback. Dyne nodded, and stared into Barret's eyes for a moment more before turning around and limping away, towards the edge of the roof.

"Hey, you remember that time you brought that kid, don't remember his name, down in the coal mines and had him start squealin' like a canary? Scared the shit out of all of us, thought there was a gas leak. We all ran for the elevator, and when we got up you were just standin' there, laughin' your ass off.

"Oh yeah!" said Barret, face breaking into a grin. "I forgot about that! Damn, you all were 'bout ready to lynch me after that little stunt."

"Yeah…" said Dyne. "Sorry I'm just now seein' you again, Barret," he said, looking down off the roof towards the park below. "Maybe if I'd run into you earlier, things would've been different. But it's too late now."

Barret frowned at this, and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. "Dyne, wait!" he said running forward.

"See ya, Barret," said Dyne, as he leaned forward and fell from the roof.

"NO!" yelled Barret, diving to try and grab Dyne, but too late. Dyne fell through the air, towards the sparkling terrace of another saucer far below. Barret just sat and stared.

"Dyne, man…my hands aren't any cleaner…I don' have no right to hold her either" he said softly. He threw his head up to the sky and roared with anguish as a helicopter approached, spotlight trained on him.

Cloud couldn't take it much longer. This was the most relaxed schedule he'd had in a week. There was absolutely nothing that had to be done in the desert prison. No forced labor, no drills, no role calls, nothing. And Cloud hated it. At least some menial labor could keep his mind off his situation, but left to his own devices, he was stuck with the frustration of his helplessness. He'd already checked and double-checked every possible escape route, to no avail. The elevator up to the Gold Saucer was sealed behind a formidable metal door, and even if he breached that he had confirmed with Cait Sith that there would be no way to summon the lift. And the desert seemed to go on forever in every direction. There was no way he could survive a trek through it, much less Aeris. This was the second time in a month that he had been imprisoned. He didn't like the trend.

"Cloud, come here and sit down," called Aeris from across the room.

"Yeah, take a load off," seconded Cait Sith. They were in one of the shacks that turned out to be the prisoners' housing, Aeris sitting on one of the ratty cots that occupied the building's only room and Cait Sith's moogle plopped down nearby. Cloud shook his head. "Cloud, you're not going to do any good driving yourself crazy like this! Just relax for a few minutes and give your mind a rest. You'll think of something, you always do." But Cloud couldn't rest, not when Sephiroth was growing more distant by the moment and he was stuck here, helplessly waiting for something to happen.

But then something did happen. A yellow-uniformed man stepped through the doorway of their abode. "Prisoners 812, 813, and 814," he stated. Aeris and Cait Sith rose to attention, and Cloud waited. "The true murderer in the case has been found, and you have been determined to have had no part in his actions. The elevator is ready to take you back to the Gold Saucer."

The trio exchanged glances. "So that's it?" said Cait Sith after a moment. "We're free to go?"

The guard nodded. "Follow me," he said tightly as he about-faced and walked out of the hut.

"Alright!" said Cait Sith, moogle's fist pumping into the air as it hopped after the guard. But Aeris and Cloud stayed behind for a moment. "Barret?" asked Aeris under her breath. Cloud nodded grimly. "No…" said Aeris, shaking her head.

"C'mon," Cloud said softly, taking her by the shoulders and guiding her out after the guard, towards the elevator.

Their ascent took much longer than had their descent. Cait Sith happily chattered away, but the other three residents of the elevator were silent. The guard, naturally, had nothing to say, while Cloud and Aeris were both silently contemplating the fate of their comrade. What would be Barret's fate now that he had been convicted of murder? Would he too be thrown into the desert prison to rot away? Would he be executed? Cloud had no idea, but it was clear that Barret wouldn't be continuing on with them. He could hardly believe it, but he was sorry to be losing the terrorist. He may be excessively loud, idealistic, and an idiot, but he was good in a fight. And what's more, whatever he may have done in a moment of passion, Cloud knew that Barret was a good man.

The metal doors at last slid open to reveal a prison cell, the door open. The guard led them out of the cell and down a corridor. Cloud hardly noticed their surroundings, preoccupied with his thoughts, and soon he found that they were in front of a classy-looking wooden door. The guard opened it and stood aside to allow them to enter. Cloud did so, and found himself in an executive office, with plush carpeting, several bookshelves and chairs, and a large high-quality desk, behind which sat a well-built man in a black business suit. But Cloud's eye was more drawn to the other occupants of the room. Red XIII sat on the floor, while in the chairs on the near side of the desk sat Tifa, Yuffie, and even Barret, all turned to observe their arrival.

"What the..?" Cloud said. "What's going on here?"

"Greetings," said the suited man, as if Cloud had said nothing. "I am Dio Devari, owner of the Gold Saucer. Please, have a seat," he said, indicating the empty chairs. Still confused, Cloud did so. Aeris followed suit, while Cait Sith settled down behind them. "Some of you are no doubt confused as to what exactly happened, and why you're here. But now that we're all here, I'll explain what seems to have happened. As you have all no doubt heard, forty customers of the Gold Saucer were found murdered in the Battle Square earlier tonight. They had all been shot, apparently by the same gun. Mr. Sith, Mr. Strife, and Ms. Gainsborough here were all discovered at the scene of the crime, and as such were imprisoned until the investigation had advanced further. We, of course, have cameras all over the park, but the cameras in the area had been destroyed. However, we had audio confirmation of the killer's identity as a male with a gun for an arm. Soon after this discovery, Mr. Wallace here entered the scene. Of course, as he has a gun-arm, my guards attempted to apprehend him, but Mr. Wallace was able to resist their attempts-"

"Resist? I kicked their asses!" muttered Barret.

"-and escape the scene," Dio continued in the same breath, though Cloud caught a trace of a smile on his face. Several further attempts were made to capture him, each failing. Mr. Wallace was finally found on the roof of the Event Square, grappling with another man. When security forces arrived, Mr. Wallace was found alone, and offered no resistance. He directed security to the location of the other man, one Dyne Hunther, who had fallen from the roof. Hunther also had a gun-arm, and this gun was matched with the bullets found at the scene of the crime. This, naturally, cleared Mr. Wallace as well as Mr. Sith, Mr. Strife, and Ms. Gainsborough. And so here you all are. Now," he said, leaning forward, "I wish to apologize on behalf of the entire Gold Saucer for the mistake and the inconveniences caused to all of you-" Barret cursed, "-and I hope that this will not affect your attitude towards the establishment as a whole."

"Are you kidding?" exclaimed Yuffie. "I'm never comin' back here again, and I'm gonna tell everyone I know to stay away! And they'll listen, too!" Cloud glanced at Yuffie in surprise. This seemed a 180 from her previous attitude towards the Gold Saucer.

"Now, that's exactly what we wish to avoid," said Dio quickly. "This is, of course, an isolated incident, and I can assure you that nothing like it has ever happened before, or will ever happen again. There's no need to-"

"Huh-uh, buddy!" said Yuffie.

Dio sighed. "Look, I'll be willing to offer you reparations in exchange for your agreement not to spread the news of this incident. There's no reason we can't all benefit from this."

"You're trying to buy us off?" said Aeris indignantly.

"What'd you have in mind?" said Yuffie simultaneously. That explained her seeming indignation.

"I would be willing to offer you each free lifetime passes to the Gold Saucer for your cooperation."

"Hey, alrigh-" Yuffie started, but Cloud elbowed her. "Do you have any sort of vehicle? A fast, all-terrain vehicle, preferably?"

"There is a luxury buggy that we offer as one of our deluxe prizes, but I hardly think that seven of those would be…"

"We'll only need one," said Cloud.

"And the tickets!" added Yuffie.

"One buggy and seven lifetime passes?" said Dio. Cloud nodded. "Alright then, I believe we have a deal. Now if you all would just sign these," he said, producing a series of forms.

"What are these?" asked Tifa, not without suspicion.

"They just state that you agree not to spread the news of your experiences here in a manner that would endanger our business. And that you agree to hand over your immortal souls, you know, the usual." The team all looked up. Dio grinned. "Joke, guys. We executives aren't all constantly trying to swindle you. Most of us, maybe, but I'm an entertainer at heart. Here you go," he said, handing a pen to Aeris, who sat at the far right of the desk. She signed her form, and passed the pen down the line. They all did so, save Red XIII. After he finished reading the form, he spoke. "Do you perchance have a pad of ink for use with stamps?" Dio produced one, and Red XIII placed his paw in it and then on the paper, leaving a paw-print on the line for a signature.

"Okay, then, your buggy and passes will be waiting for you below the Saucer. My guard will escort you," said Dio, rising to shake each of their hands, where applicable, in turn. "I hope to see you again here!"

They filed out of the office after the guard. "I knew you were innocent, Barret, I just knew it!" Aeris said excitedly. Barret just nodded, staring down at the ground. "And now we have a car, so we can catch up to Sephiroth! We…are you alright?" she said, finally noticing his somber demeanor.

Cloud peered at him closely. There seemed to be something different about him. After a moment, Cloud spotted the glimmer of a silver cross on a chain around his neck that didn't look familiar. "Barret? Are you okay?" repeated Aeris.

Barret didn't look up. "Fine. Jes' don' feel much like celebratin'."

''''''''''''''''''''' ''''' '''' '''''''''' '' ';'''''

Perhaps made more significant changes in this chapter than any other. But it needed it. You prove your innocence by winning a freaking chocobo race? C'mon now. So I had Barret go Richard Kimble and try to find the true murderer while avoiding the authorities, hence the title. I also made Dyne slightly more sane than his in-game counterpart. Dio, too, was transformed into a fairly normal CEO type instead of a Speedo wearing scary guy. I tried to put glimpses of his original personality in there, and you'll see more of it later. Thanks to all of you still with the story, especially those of you who review and tell me so.

Steffel: I'm not a fan of Cait Sith, but I definitely like the moogle. I mean, he's hardly Cait Sith without him. It is rather silly and it'll perhaps be a challenge fitting him into the party, so I certainly see your point. But Cait Sith will remain the same, at least externally.

MogGuy: Your review seemed somewhat cut short. But hopefully this chapter will not be so rushed. It's the longest yet, anyway, I do believe.


	32. Spectres of the Past

Spectres of the Past

The seven would-be convicts and their escort arrived at a warehouse area, strikingly out of keeping with the rest of the Gold Saucer in its total lack of decoration and amenities. Walls were bare grey concrete with huge fluorescent lights on the ceiling, and the area was filled with crates upon crates of various anonymous items. This was clearly the business end of the Gold Saucer.

Several employees were unpacking from a crate what appeared to be their reparation. The buggy was large, about ten feet long, with glass windshield and windows and a red and black paint job. Interestingly, instead of the rubber tires that the Mako-powered cars and motorcycles that had recently taken over Midgar's streets possessed, this vehicle had treads, like the prototype tanks that ShinRa had unveiled in their recent war against the Fen-Shi. This would clearly make the vehicle more capable of dealing with adverse terrain. Devari had come through for them after all.

"Well, looks like you guys got things sorted out pretty well," said Cait Sith from the back of the group. "Real nice to have met you all, but I guess I'd better get back to work!"

One of the employees shuffled awkwardly and cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at him. Blushing, he handed Cait Sith an envelope and quickly turned away. The moogle removed a letter and held it up to the cat's eyes. The cat read it, then turned its eyes to the ground.

"What's it say?" asked Aeris.

"I'm fired," Cait Sith said quietly.

"What? For what?" said Aeris.

"My boss didn't want someone around who was involved with a murder."

"But you weren't involved! You were innocent!" said Tifa.

Cait Sith shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I was involved with the investigation, and he doesn't want someone with that history entertaining people."

"But Dio seemed to like you, can't you appeal to him?" asked Aeris.

"Dio respects the authority of his employees. He'd let my boss's decision stand."

"So what're you going to do, then?" asked Tifa.

The cat shrugged its slumped shoulders. "Dunno. A cat and moogle pair doesn't really have much for job options…"

"I wish we could help," said Aeris, putting her hand on the cat's tiny shoulder.

"Yeah…wait," he said, turning to Cloud. "Didn't you say you were on some mission or something?"

"Um…yeah," said Cloud, uncomfortable about discussing this with a cat, and in front of several strangers.

"What is it? Can I help?"

"We're trying to stop-" blurted Yuffie before Tifa and Cloud managed to get their hands over her mouth.

"-a madman," finished Tifa.

"Stop a madman? Isn't that a job for the police or something?" said Cait Sith.

"It's a long story," said Cloud impatiently. "But we've got to get going, so if you'll excuse us."

"Wait! Can I help you?" asked Cait Sith hopefully.

"I fail to see how a talking cat and oversized moogle can help us," said Cloud tersely.

"Cloud!" said Aeris chidingly. "Can't you see that he just wants to help? And he doesn't have anywhere else to go!"

"I ain't shellin' out any money to feed some damn animals!" said Barret gruffly. Red XIII cleared his throat loudly. "Oh, 'cept you, man," Barret amended.

"We can find our own food," said Cait Sith. "We just need somewhere to stay and something to do. This buggy seems like a good mobile home, and saving the world's definitely something to do. C'mon, whaddaya say? Take in a couple of poor homeless animals?"

Cloud sighed irritably. "What good will you do us? Are you any good in a fight?"

"Any good in a fight, he says!" remarked Cait Sith, and Mog promptly started hopping around, raising its fists in an absurd boxing pose. Cloud rolled his eyes. "Not doin' it for you?" said Cait Sith. "Alright, then, how 'bout this?" He closed his eyes, and green lights started to swirl around him. Then with blinding speed, the moogle sprinted around the entire group. But before Cloud could respond to this display, the very ground started shaking under their feet. The six companions gasped, and the Gold Saucer employees fled in terror. Then just as suddenly as it had started, the miniature earthquake stopped, and the cat raised its hands, shooting dazzling balls of lights from them to conclude its display. "More to this little kitty then meets the eye, eh?" he said slyly.

This magical demonstration had won Cloud over, and judging by their astonished faces, the rest of the party as well. "Okay, if you can perform like that in action, you can come along," said Cloud. Mog promptly tossed its rider into the air, and Cait Sith raised his tiny fist with a surprisingly loud "Alright!"

"Okay, let's move out," said Cloud. He looked back to ask the employees how to operate the buggy, but they were still long gone. Cursing, he walked around, examining the vehicle. He soon found a keyhole in the side, with the key thankfully already inserted. He turned the key, and the wall of the buggy promptly folded downwards to provide a ramp for climbing inside. Cloud removed the key and entered the vehicle. It was very spacious and luxurious, with red carpet underfoot, two pairs of black leather seats at the front, and two leather benches below the windows along each side. Overall the buggy could probably accompany ten riders comfortably, which was a good thing considering their party's continually increasing size, not to mention the alternative seating requirements of Red XIII and now Cait Sith.

Cloud moved to the front of the vehicle and examined the controls. Fortunately, they appeared fairly simple. He turned, and saw that the party had now entered the buggy, with comments expressing their admiration of their new ride. "Everyone take a seat," said Cloud. Aeris moved to sit in the passenger seat beside him, Tifa and Yuffie in the seats behind. Red XIII hopped up and laid himself on one of the benches, Barret dropped onto the other, and Cait Sith's moogle simply plopped its sizable rear end on the floor in the back corner. "Okay, let's try this baby out," said Cloud, sitting down, and was about to do so when he realized that he didn't know how. "I've forgotten how to drive," he muttered.

"What, Cloud?" asked Aeris, leaning forward.

"I don't know how to drive this thing," said Cloud.

"Well…that's alright. Cars are pretty new, a lot of people can't drive" said Tifa.

"But I should be able to," insisted Cloud, head in his hand. "They taught us how in SOLDIER, I remember. And I could even drive the motorcycle. I just can't remember how to drive a car."

"It's alright, I'll drive," said Tifa quickly, shooing Cloud out of the seat and sitting down herself. Cloud handed her the key as he sat down behind her, still confused and troubled. Why had he completely forgotten such a basic skill that he learned just a few years back?

"So Cloud, where to?" asked Tifa.

"I don't know," he said.

"But Cloud, you're our leader, you…"

"I don't care! I can't think right now! Just drive!" yelled Cloud. Tifa, stunned into silence, turned the key in the ignition, starting the low purr of the buggy's engine, and pulled it out of the open warehouse door. The night was finally over, and the sun was beginning to creep up over the distant Corel Mountains which they had already left behind. They had not slept since before reaching North Corel.

"Hey, Cloud?" Aeris said tentatively. "Don't you think we should take a break soon? We've been on the go for a while."

"We lost too much time in that idiot amusement park," Cloud muttered, staring at the floor.

"But we…"

"We don't have time!" Cloud exploded. "What the fuck, you tell me to be your leader, then you don't fucking listen! We're going!"

"Listen up, spiky-ass," said Barret in a low voice as he approached the cockpit. "I know everyone else 'lected you leader or whatever, but that don' mean you can jes' keep us goin' all day an' night. I been through a lot, an' I need to sleep awhile to sort things out, and I damn sure ain't gonna sleep on this lil' bench back here. We gotta stop soon."

"I agree," said Red XIII from the back.

"Me too!" chimed Yuffie.

Cloud looked around, seeing everyone against him. "Do whatever you want," he said quietly.

"I'll just stop at the first town we see, then," said Tifa from the driver's seat. Cloud didn't respond.

The buggy traversed the dunes of the Augrifani Desert with relative ease, soon making it to the welcome sight of grasslands once more. Like the jarring transition from golden sand to emerald grass, the interior of the car was an amalgamation of opposing moods. Cloud and Barret were broodingly silent, as was Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith chatted animatedly about the Gold Saucer and gambling, and Tifa and Aeris exchanged sparse small talk, both preoccupied with concerns about the two men.

They eventually encountered a large river, which Tifa was able to ford by driving across a patch of marshland. After another hour trees started to be send dotting the open fields, and soon they found themselves in an outright forest. With some deft weaving, Tifa was able to maneuver the buggy through the maze of trees without incident, and they continued on. After a few minutes a strange shape became visible in the woods, towering far above the trees. It was a pillar of some sort, black and jagged at the top.

"What is that?" Tifa muttered, but no one knew. But after a few moments, Barret spoke up.

"Shit, shoulda known," he said quietly.

"What, Barret? What is it?" asked Tifa, turning back briefly to face him. His head was already turned back to the floor, face emotionless.

"It's what we been destroyin' back in Midgar."

"What, a Mako reactor?" said Tifa. "But aren't they-"

"Look agin'," said Barret. Tifa did so and after a few moments, she saw it. It was a Mako reactor, or at least it had been. It had apparently been severely damaged, and was now just an inoperative ruin, lacking both the sleek, rounded top and the Mako smoke trailing from it.

"Not much of a reactor anymore," she observed.

"Hey," said Aeris, "do you think it was people like you who did this? Like AVALANCHE?"

"Hey, yeah!" said Tifa excitedly. "Maybe they'll help us! Maybe they were inspired by us, Barret!" The AVALANCHE leader shrugged.

"Hey, guys," squeaked Cait Sith from the rear of the car, "sorry to interrupt and all, but did you say that _you're _AVALANCHE?"

"That's right!" said Aeris proudly, which Tifa found odd as she really wasn't a part of it. Well, she was a Cetra, and she had cared for Wedge and saved Marlene. That could make her an honorary member, anyway.

"The same AVALANCHE that destroyed two Mako reactors and the Sector 7 slums in Midgar?" continued the cat.

"We didn' do the slums!" Barret snapped. "Damn ShinRa did that themselves! But hell yeah we did the reactors! Got a problem with that, furball?"

Cait Sith and Mog quickly put their arms forward. "Not at all! Just didn't know I was in such distinguished company!" Barret snorted.

The buggy reached a large clearing in the woods, at one edge of which lay a small village.

"Hey, I know this place!" said Cait Sith. "Gongaga, I think it's called."

"I think we found our stop for the night, er, day. Alright, Cloud?" said Tifa.

"Yeah," he replied. Tifa switched off the engine and exited the buggy with the rest of her companions, closing the ramp-door behind her.

"So let's find some beds already!" said Aeris with a yawn.

But Cloud shook his head. "I don't trust this buggy sitting here alone, even if it does lock itself. Someone in a little town like this will never have seen anything like it before. Might not be able to resist. Someone needs to stay and guard it."

"I've got it!" said Cait Sith, raising his hand along with the moogle's. "I don't use beds, anyways, and neither does Mog."

"I shall stay as well," said Red XIII, peering sideways at Cait Sith.

"Alright," said Cloud, and the humanoid contingent of the party moved towards town.

The village was only about thirty or so buildings, and Tifa for a moment wondered how such an insignificant town would have the number of people to work a Mako reactor as well as run the town itself. But then, with a gasp of horror, she saw the answer. A two-mile or so radius around the ruined reactor was nothing but scorched earth, and here and there amongst the wasteland were the charred foundations of houses. Here before her was an eerie reminder of the aftermath of the reactor bombings in Midgar, all the more striking because the casualties were not an insignificant portion of the population of the largest city in the world, but the vast majority of a small forest town.

"What happened here?" asked an awestruck Yuffie.

"This is…what happens when a Mako reactor blows," responded Tifa, unable to tear her eyes away from the desolation.

"Come on," Cloud said after a moment, and he led them onto the remaining buildings, the mere outskirts of the original town. He was about to knock on the door of the first house they encountered, but then paused, thinking. "It'll probably intimidate them if five strangers knock on a door simultaneously," he said. "We should split up."

"Gotcha!" said Yuffie, and ran off.

"Hey!" yelled Cloud, to no avail. "Dammit! Barret, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Barret obeyed wordlessly, and Cloud turned back to knock. The door was opened by a black-haired man who looked at the three with surprise, his look changing to outright astonishment when his eyes came to rest on Cloud.

"What manner of creature are you?" asked Red XIII, peering at Cait Sith.

"Hey, nice to meet you too, the name's Cait Sith, what's yours?" replied the cat indignantly.

"You do not smell like any other cat, or even any other animal I have ever encountered," continued Red XIII, unfazed.

"Well how 'bout you? I've never smelled _or_ seen anything like you before," countered Cait Sith.

Red XIII bowed his head. "That is a fair statement. I apologize."

The inside of the car was silent. "Well?" asked Cait Sith finally. "We gonna trade stories or what?"

Red XIII deliberated for a few moments, then spoke.

"Where you think yer goin'? demanded Barret as he caught the fleeing girl by the shoulder.

"Hey!" exclaimed Yuffie as Barret roughly turned her around to face him. "Just gonna go find a place to stay. That's the plan, right? What, do you still not trust me? C'mon, I haven't tried anything bad yet, have I? And I gave--"

"Look kid, I'm too tired for this now," said Barret, heaving a heavy sigh. "Body's tired, mind's tired, heart's tired…"

" And again I'm 'kid'!" said Yuffie angrily. Ignoring her, Barret walked over to the nearest house and knocked on a door.

"Who is it?" asked a voice from inside.

"Jes' travelers lookin' for a place to stay."

An elderly woman in a worn old dress opened the door, immediately stepping back upon seeing a huge man with a gun-arm on her doorstep.

"Are you…with them?" she stammered fearfully.

"With who?" asked Barret.

"With…ShinRa?"

"ShinRa? Hell no!"

"Because we haven't said anything, I promise!"

"What're you talking about?" asked Yuffie.

"SOLDIER? I…I don't understand!" said the man, staring at Cloud.

"We're not SOLDIERs," said Cloud.

"But…but your eyes! And hers!" he exclaimed, pointing at Aeris.

"Ex-SOLDIER. And she…was just born with them." Tifa couldn't help feeling somewhat left out.

"Well, you aren't dressed like SOLDIERs," said the man, struggling to make sense out of the situation. "I guess that makes sense…but you said you were a SOLDIER?" Cloud nodded. "This may be just what we've been waiting for!" said the man breathlessly. "Please, come in!" he said, running inside and leaving the door expectantly open. Cloud looked to the girls, but Aeris' face was one of bewilderment, and Tifa had nothing to offer either, though she felt a very faint, inexplicable note of fear of what was about to happen. Shrugging, the mercenary stepped inside.

"I…am not used to talking about myself," said Red XIII finally.

"C'mon!" said Cait Sith coaxingly. "Nothing to be afraid of!"

"It is just that…I never really get the opportunity. Everyone is too frightened upon seeing me to even think of just asking me anything."

"Hey, I ain't frightened, and I'm asking. Talk to me."

Red XIII took a deep breath. "I…am a member of an ancient species, older than humans. We are very long-lived and quite able fighters when need be, but still there are…very few left."

"Why's that?"

"Countless futile tribal wars in our earlier days, more recently being hunted and exterminated by fearful humans," said Red XIII bitterly. "We unified against the new threat, but too late. We were already too few, and now even fewer.

"How many?" asked Cait Sith quietly.

"Now we all reside in one place with the few humans who understand that we are

not mere beasts, and who treat us with respect," continued Red XIII, as if he hadn't heard the question.

"Where's that?" asked Cait Sith. But Red XIII shook his head.

"Hey, c'mon man, we're supposed to be spillin' our guts here!" said Cait Sith.

"I am sorry, I cannot tell you. Everyone who lives there does so to get away from the outside world. To tell an outsider of its location would be to betray them all."

"Alright, guy!" said Cait Sith placatingly.

"But it is close. Very close now," said Red XIII, staring out the tinted windows of the buggy. "And when we near it, I will leave you all."

"Leave? Why?" said Cait Sith, surprised.

"This is not my quest. I was imprisoned in Midgar, and these humans helped me to escape. So I have traveled with them and helped them since. However, this is their fight, not mine. I am needed at home. But enough. How about your story?"

"Me? Not much of a story, really. No ancient species or anything. No species at all that I know of, actually. As long as I can remember, I've been like this, smart and able as a human, but in the body of a cat. No explanation that I know of, it's just the way I am.

"And you have no father or mother, or any others of your kind?" asked Red XIII with an intensity unusual for him.

"Nope. Just me. As I'm sure you've noticed, it's kinda hard for a talking animal to be accepted into human society, so things were kinda tough for a while. Sure I could've played dumb and been taken in as a housecat, but I couldn't live like that. So I kept scraping by, running around Winsalle City, stealing food here and there and sleeping in little crannies on the streets. After a few years I decided that I couldn't take living like a beggar anymore, so I left the city and went into the wilderness. I ran into Mog in the forests near here, and he was an outcast too. He was way bigger than the other moogles, and he couldn't talk. Plus…" Cait Sith leaned in to whisper, "he ain't the brightest candle on the cake, know what I mean? But he's a big softie, and I felt sorry for him. So we teamed up, and decided to find somewhere that accepted us."

"The Gold Saucer," finished Red XIII.

"Yep! People don't think twice about a talkin' cat there!"

"Indeed," said Red XIII, remembering Aeris' comment that people might think he was just 'part of the show.'

"So that's my story," finished Cait Sith. "Kinda dull, huh?"

"Not at all," said Red XIII. "It seems we have much in common."

"What, just that we're two talking animals in a world of humans? Shoot, I coulda told you that right off!" said Cait Sith.

"No, more than that," said Red XIII contemplatively. "But I digress. Thank you for convincing me to speak. It is quite liberating to finally tell someone else about my people, not to mention to find someone who cares enough to listen."

"Hey, likewise!" said Cait Sith. "I just wish you weren't gonna leave me alone with these crazy humans." At that Red XIII cracked a rare smile.

"It's…it's that reactor," said the woman to Barret and Yuffie. "We didn't even need a reactor in Gongaga, we never were a large town. But it opened up so many jobs, and ShinRa promised it would make our lives so much easier. But once they have a reactor built in your town, they think they own you."

Barret's fist clenched. "So what'd they do?"

"Well, they didn't do anything at first. But soon they found out that the reactor wasn't as profitable as they had thought it would be, that there wasn't enough Mako underground. There was talk of shutting it down. But that's when it happened."

"When the reactor exploded?" asked Yuffie. The woman slowly shook her head. "It didn't just explode…they…they blew it up."

"They blew up their own reactor?" exclaimed Barret. She nodded. "But why? They could've jes' shut it down if they didn' wanna run it anymore. Why'd they have to go an' blow it up?"

The woman bit her lip. "To destroy most of the town along with it. That way they could…could kill us and still…have it look like an accident," she said, voice shaking. "But we all knew that it was on purpose."

"But why'd they want to kill you at all?" asked Yuffie. "What'd you do?"  
"We didn't do anything!" the woman explained tearfully. "They destroyed the town to scare us, to make sure we didn't do something!"

"What's that?"

"Tell…tell anybody else about…"

"About what?" asked Barret roughly, but the woman shook her head.

"That's just it! I can't tell you! The explosion was a warning to the rest of us not to talk!"

"C'mon, you can tell us! We won't tell ShinRa!" said Yuffie, but again the woman shook her head fervently.

"They'll know," she whispered. "They have spies everywhere. They always know…"

"Honey, come here, quick!" shouted the man as he advanced into his house. "It's a SOLDIER!"

"A SOLDIER? Is it him?"

"No, not a SOLDIER, an ex-SOLDIER. He might have heard of him!"

Cloud followed the man into the homey living room, Tifa and Aeris behind him. Tifa heard the woman say "It's you, isn't it? Oh, of course, the eyes! He had those same eyes!"

"Sorry?" said a confused Cloud.

"Wait…who are they?" asked the woman, now confused as Tifa and Aeris entered the room. The living room was homey, consisting of a few assorted armchairs and a blue sofa. The entire scene was lit by the pale light of a cloudy day streaming in through misty windows. The black-haired man stood leaning up against the side of the sofa on which a stout woman of about fifty sat, looking at the two newcomers inquisitively.

"Oh, just friends of his," said the man impatiently, waving as if to brush them aside as irrelevant. "So how about it, son? Have you ever heard of him?"

"Of who?" said Cloud helplessly.

"Of our son, of Zack!"

_Zack…_

"What are you talking about?" said Cloud, shaking his head fiercely. "Neither of you is making any sense!"

"Okay," said the woman, taking a deep breath. "Let's just start from the beginning," she said, beckoning for them to all enter the room. Cloud, and Aeris sat in chairs facing the sofa, where the man joined his wife. Tifa also tentatively sat, her unease growing. Why was she so nervous? There was no reason for it, but somehow this situation seemed almost familiar. A vision from a past life previously erased from memory.

"My name is Miriam Verrsel, and this is my husband Jeff. We have one child, who we haven't seen for a long time. The ShinRa said that we're not supposed to talk about him or ask about him, or else they'll finish what they started by blowing up the reactor-" Tifa and Aeris gasped, "-but I don't care! We can't take it anymore, we have to know what happened to our son!"

"Why do you think I'd know anything about your son?" asked Cloud.

"Because…" whispered Tifa inaudibly.

"Because he was a SOLDIER!" said Jeff Verrsel. "SOLDIER First Class he said, in his last letter to us! He would've been twenty-four this year. He was about your height and had black hair. Zack Verrsel, SOLDIER First Class. Have you ever heard of him?"

_Zack Verrsel, SOLDIER First Class…_

"Never," said Cloud with a sudden certainty. At first the name had seemed like it might have been faintly familiar, but now suddenly he was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had never heard the name before in his life.

"Are…are you sure?" said Miriam almost pleadingly.

"Absolutely," said Cloud firmly. "Sorry, never heard of him."

"Oh…alright," she said faintly.

"Wait!" said Jeff, attention suddenly fastened on Aeris. "You! In his letter, Zack told us he was seeing someone in Midgar, and described her a little bit. You seem to fit the description! Did you know him at all?"

Aeris shrunk back into her chair as all eyes in the room turned to her expectantly.

"Well, Aeris?" said Tifa.

"Y…yes. I did know Zack," said Aeris at last.

"So you were his girlfriend?" asked the woman hopefully. Aeris hesitated, looking first at Tifa, who looked purposefully out the window, and Cloud, who stared intently at her. She nodded.

The man heaved a sigh of relief and the woman cheered, throwing her hands in the air. "But I don't know where he is!" said Aeris quickly. The exuberance disappeared as quickly as it started.

"But…but you said…"

"I was his girlfriend, yes!" said Aeris. "But that was five years ago! I haven't seen him at all since then!"

A heavy silence fell onto the room.

"What happened the last time you saw him?" asked Jeff at last.

"It was right after he earned First Class," said Aeris, a pained look on her face. "He told me he had been chosen for a mission somewhere across the world, so he'd be away for awhile. He said that it would be dangerous, but he was sure he would make it. I asked him why he was so sure, but he just smiled and didn't answer. Said it was classified…and that was the last I saw of him."

"That's it?" said Miriam desperately. "Did he say anything else?"

Aeris suddenly exploded "DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING HE SAID TO ME?" stunning everyone into silence.

"No, no, of course not," said Jeff at length. "I…I'm sorry. We didn't mean to upset you."

"So none of you know anything about where he is now?" asked Miriam, looked at them all with the last vestige of hope in her eyes. The three shook their heads.

"Well, if he had died or gone missing on this mission, then ShinRa should have sent you notification," said Cloud.

"No," said Miriam tearfully. "That's just it, they never told us anything. After a while we naturally started asking questions, and that's when…" She broke out into tears.

Her husband put an arm around her and drew her into his shoulder. "That's when they blew the reactor," he said sadly. "They thought we were getting too curious about something they obviously didn't want us to find out about. But he's our son! What were we supposed to do? Just let it go, when we didn't even know if he's dead or alive?"

"No...course not," Cloud said when he realized that neither of the two girls was going to do so. They were usually the comforting ones, but both now seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts. This seemed like the time to exit stage left. "Look I'm sorry we couldn't help. But do you know of anywhere we could stay for the day? We've been traveling for a while."

"Yes…the yellow two-story house down the way there," said Jeff absently. "The woman who lives there takes in travelers sometimes."

"Thanks," said Cloud. After an awkward silence, he stood and purposefully walked out of the house. Tifa and Aeris eventually followed, and he closed the door behind them.

"What's wrong with you two?" he demanded. Do you know more than you were telling them?"

"No, not at all," said Aeris, a far-off look in her eyes. "I just…it's been a long time since I thought about him. About Zack.

"Were you in love?" Cloud asked, aware of how odd it sounded coming from him. To his surprise, she nodded.

"My first love," she murmured, looking down. "My only love, for that matter. Kinda dissuades you from romance when your first real boyfriend disappears never to be heard from again. My theory's always been that he found someone else. He was kind of a lady's man. But it seems like he really did go missing…I don't know, I guess I'm glad that I haven't seen him again.

"You didn't seem too glad in there," Cloud pointed out tightly.

"No, it's just…painful memories…" she said. But then she looked up at Cloud, with one of her characteristically piercing glances. "Cloud, you said you were SOLDIER First Class, right?"

"Yeah."

"Just like Zack. And you said you've never even heard of him?"

"No, I haven't," he said, and turned his eyes to Tifa. "And how about you, Tifa? Why were you so uncomfortable? Have you heard of him?"

"Huh?" said Tifa, snapping out of her reverie. "N-no, I haven't"

"You sure?" Cloud asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I'm sure!" exclaimed Tifa. "Why would I have heard of him?"

"Alright, whatever," said Cloud. And he led the way towards the yellow house.

;;';;;;;;;;;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;;;:;:

Another chapter of above-average length. Surprising, considering that this was an optional and fairly short area. But I wanted to give Gongaga's story more significance than just "there was a reactor. It exploded. People died. Bummer," so I tied it in with Zack's story. I also wanted to reveal a bit about Red XIII before the Canyon, and wanted to change Cait Sith's circumstances. Someone as potentially cold as Cloud wouldn't just let an amusement park employee tag along without a good reason, and it also seems kinda strange that a bunch of people would travel around with a talking cat and huge moogle without getting curious about the fact that they are, in fact, a talking cat and huge moogle. Oh, the fun of trying to make sense of video-game logic. And I'm getting really sick of this f-ing site screwing up my formatting and making the entire chapter run together. I thought I had some of that fixed at some point, but now it's doing it again.


	33. Cosmo Canyon

Cosmo Canyon

Green soon turned to orange as the buggy left behind the forests and fields of the region surrounding Gongaga to enter the Cosmo Mountains. Cloud still didn't have an exact destination in mind, but he knew that he was nearing his and Tifa's old hometown of Nibelheim, or rather the site where it had been before Sephiroth had burned it to the ground. And an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that they would soon end up passing through there.

Another member of the party was nearing home too. Red XIII's normal nonchalance was increasingly turning to excitement, and he frequently stood to look out the tinted black windows at the familiar orange cliffs of the mountains. He was getting very close now.

The ride got bumpier, but the buggy managed along the beaten path through the mountains.

"I don't feel so good…" said Yuffie, a hand on her stomach. "Can't we go around these mountains or something?"

"If you want to put us about a week behind, then sure," said Tifa, still at the wheel. Cloud secretly shared Yuffie's sentiments, and nausea, though he didn't know why. He specifically remembered another ride towards Nibelheim, several years ago, in which he had boasted about never getting motion sickness, and here he was suffering from it. People changed, evidently.

"What the…" said Tifa.

"What is it?" asked Cloud, glad for a distraction from his stomach.

"The controls stopped responding," said Tifa, trying with no avail to get a response out of the vehicle. "It just died."

"Motherfucking cheating son-of-a-bitch!" yelled Barret, denting the buggy's wall with his fist. "If I ever see that Dio bastard again, he's dead!"

"I do not think it is Devari's fault, or the vehicle's," said Red XIII.

"What do you mean?" asked Aeris.

"Follow me," replied the beast, before hitting the door release button with his paw and leaping out of the vehicle before the ramp had fully descended.

"Never seen him move that fast for anything," remarked Yuffie. "Seems awfully excited about something."

"What was he talking about, though?" said Cloud through gritted teeth, trying to control his frustration at their transportation's sudden breakdown better than Barret.

"One way to find out," said Aeris with a shrug, before running out of the buggy after Red XIII. Cloud followed suit.

Aeris was running full-tilt, but the flower girl was no match for the quadruped. Red XIII seemed oblivious to the rest of the party, and showed no signs of waiting. He promptly disappeared out of view into what seemed to be a chasm. Aeris gasped, and Cloud sprinted ahead to the edge to look down. It was his turn to gasp.

Over the edge lay not a steep drop, but a spiraling path along the rock wall of a canyon down to a large settlement. There were a few small buildings made out of wood, but the majority of the structures seemed to be carved right out of the rock walls. People circulated around the settlement, going about their business. But all this was eclipsed by the tallest building, out of which protruded the most massive telescope Cloud had ever seen.

"Oh my…" said Aeris as she caught up with Cloud. "Where'd this come from?"

"I dunno," said Cloud. She had a good question. There hadn't been any signs of civilization the entire time they had been in the mountains. What was a well-established settlement like this doing in the middle an otherwise deserted, arid and inhospitable mountain range? He guessed they were about to find out, as he started warily down the winding path to the canyon floor.

At the bottom was a large archway, attended by several men, all of whom were now gathered around Red XIII. But as Cloud approached first one, then all the men turned their attention to him.

"Who goes there?" said a dark-haired man sporting a blue shirt and bandana.

Cloud was about to show the man the business end of a Buster Sword when Red XIII stepped forward and whispered something. The man listened, then turned back to Cloud. "Nanaki says that you helped him escape from ShinRa and helped him return home. For that you have my gratitude, and the gratitude of our people. However, I am afraid you still cannot enter."

"I will vouch for his character," said Red XIII. "Cloud and his companions are my friends, and their intents are noble. They will cause no trouble."

"But the Mas…" said the man quietly.

"Grandfather will agree with me, Wahan" interrupted Red XIII.

"Uh, yo, questions," said Barret. "One, what the hell is this place, two, who the hell is Nanaki, and three, what the hell's any o' this got to do with fixin' that damn car???"  
"Your car broke down?" said one of the men, wearing a cap and green muscle shirt. Cloud nodded. "Oh, I'm so sorry. We have a lot of sophisticated equipment here that can create electrical disturbances for mechanical devices which haven't been specifically designed to operate here. We accept full responsibility."

"Well that's great, but we're still stuck here!" pointed out Yuffie.

"Oh, no worries. We'll repair your vehicle," said Wahan. "Business has been kinda slow anyway. I'll gather up my team of mechanics and get on it right away."

"Oh…thanks," said Yuffie as the man ran through the archway towards the settlement.

"But what is this place?" said Cloud.

"This," said Red XIII, "is Cosmo Canyon."

"Cosmo Canyon…" said Barret, apparently awestruck. Red XIII nodded. "Shit…"

"This…is Cosmo Canyon?" said Tifa slowly.

"Um, is there an explanation for those of us who haven't heard of this place?" said Yuffie. Cloud silently agreed. He'd never heard of any Cosmo Canyon, despite its vicinity to his own hometown.

"You may explain to them. I must talk to Grandfather," said Red XIII before running off towards the opposite wall of the canyon.

"Very well then," said Wahan, somewhat ill at ease at being left alone with the strangers. "Cosmo Canyon is the center for the study of the Life of the Planet. People from all over the world come here to study the Planet. It is one of the few places in the world untouched by ShinRa, and it is for this reason that we must be so secretive. If they knew about it, they would no doubt destroy this place, for we oppose everything they stand for. What they call geology is only the study of how best to exploit the Planet. We learn out of a genuine desire to learn about the Planet, and how to protect it."

"No kiddin'…" said Cait Sith thoughtfully.

Wahan nodded. "The electrical equipment that Andy spoke of is sophisticated scientific equipment designed to monitor and study the Planet."

"What d'ya mean, like Mako and stuff like that?" said Yuffie.

Wahan grimaced. "The concept referred to by the ShinRa corporation as Mako Energy is one of our main concerns, yes."

"Whaddaya mean? Mako's Mako, ain't it?" asked Barret.

"The idea of Mako energy is grossly distorted propaganda spread by ShinRa to further their own selfish energy schemes, though according to what Nanaki tells me about your organization, you at least have some idea of the truth behind it all. However, I would imagine that you are not aware of the full importance of so-called Mako energy."

"There you go with that Nanaki crap again. You talkin' 'bout Red or what?" said Barret.

Wahan opened his mouth to speak, but Red XIII, returning from the far side of the canyon, pre-empted him. "I think Grandfather would be the best one to explain everything."

"You want to send them to the Master?" said Wahan. "Isn't that somewhat hasty?"  
"I just spoke with him, and he would be glad to see them," said Red XIII. "If you all will accompany me, I will take you to him."

Cloud grit his teeth. Their little adventure at the Gold Saucer had already delayed them substantially, and he wasn't in the mood for some bullshit hippy pandering. But with their vehicle out of commission, it didn't seem that he had much choice in the matter, so he just shook his head and followed his companions.

Red XIII led them across the canyon floor, past a bonfire and a variety of clay houses and other structures, over to a portal carved in the canyon wall. They found themselves in a small cavern, where they continued up a stairway leading up the inner wall. The stairway continued up a surprising distance, and Cloud was just remarking how Barret's wheezing and cursing reminded him of another certain stair climb when they emerged onto a small plateau jutting out from the canyon wall. The ledge was dominated by a large tower, the most prominent feature of which was the huge telescope Cloud had noticed earlier pointed at the sky, which was red as the rock of the canyon itself with the setting sun.

"That's one damn big telescope," Barret said unnecessarily, and the rest of them nodded their agreement.

"Come, my Grandfather is inside," said Red XIII, and led them to the door of the tower. They entered into a sizeable but cozy living room, done out primarily in soft blues and greens starkly contrasting with the harsh red color scheme predominant outdoors.

"Friends, this is my Grandfather, Bugenhagen," Red XIII said ceremoniously. Cloud was momentarily confused, as the room seemed empty, but then what he had taken to be an abnormally large pillow rose up from a sofa and revealed itself to rather be an abnormally small man. He was clad in a blue robe that extended down all five feet or so of his body to the floor, and sported a pair of circular-lensed sunglasses and ponytail seemingly contrasting with his wrinkled skin and white beard flowing to the floor.

"Ho ho hoooo," the old man said, a strange smile on his face. "So you are Nanaki's friends. I hear you looked after him, and I appreciate it. Nanaki may be intelligent, but he is still but a child.

"Grandfather, please," said Red XIII quietly. "I'm forty-eight."

"Oh ho ho," said Bugenhagen once more, "yes, of course, but you know as well as I that you will not come of age until you reach fifty years."

"Wait wait wait, Red's forty-eight, but he's still a kid?" said Barret.

"Oh my, yes. Nanaki's race is blessed with incredible longevity compared to humans. His forty-eight years correspond to only about fifteen or sixteen human years."

"Fifteen or sixteen??" said Yuffie, staring at Red XIII with a burgeoning grin. "Ha! You're as young as me!"

"Yes, yes, I'm surprised you didn't know," said Bugenhagen, bouncing up and down for no explicable reason. "It's not like Nanaki here to mislead people."

"I did not mislead them, I simply did not mention my age," said Red XIII. "They drew their own conclusions."

"Ah, of course, of course. Yes, Nanaki can be quite wise for one so young, but yet he is but a child."

"A'ight, jes' for the record an' such, Red here's real name is Nanaki, s'that right?" said Barret.

"Of course, Nanaki is Nanaki. So you did not tell them your name either, Nanaki?"

"He didn't tell us much of anything about himself," remarked Cloud, looking at Red XIII, who sat in silence looking somewhat abashed.

"He told me some!" said Cait Sith, raising his hand along with his moogle. "Not much though. Still didn't mention his real name."

"Grandfather, I believe I will excuse myself and visit some of the other residents I have not yet seen," Red XIII said, evidently desiring to escape the awkward scene.

"Yes, of course, go, go," said Bugenhagen good-naturedly. "Yes, that does not surprise me, that Nanaki was so quiet about himself," he said once Red XIII had left. But all that is a tale for another day, another day…oh ho hoooo, but where are my manners? I have not yet properly greeted you! As Nanaki said, I am Bugenhagen, and I am the leader of sorts of all of us here at Cosmo Canyon. After all of them had gone through their introductions, Yuffie blurted out "so you're Red XIII's grandfather? How the hell does that work??" Tifa elbowed her for the rudeness, but Bugenhagen just laughed.

"Oh ho hooo, yes, of course you would wonder about that. It is an honorary title, as you might cleverly have deduced. I have been a very good friend to Nanaki's family for many years now, to the point that I am apparently considered a member of the family. As to why I am Grandfather rather than Uncle or something of the sort, well, I guess I'm just that old, aren't I? Ho ho hooooo.

'Anyway, might I ask what brings you to our pleasant little canyon here? We don't get much in the way of passersby."

"We were searching for someone, and our car broke down here" said Cloud, unwilling to reveal anything more to this ridiculous little man.

"Ah, I see, I see," said Bugenhagen. "So you are not here to learn about the Planet? Too bad, too bad…"

"Nope, not at-", said Cloud, before being cut off by-

"I'd like to learn about the Planet!" said Aeris excitedly. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"'Ey, me too!" said Barret. "Guy down there was talkin' bout Mako."

"Oh ho, yes, Mako…" said Bugenhagen thoughtfully, gazing at the floor. "Yes, that is the name by which most people these days know the Lifestream."

"The Lifestream? C'mon, everyone knows about that!" said Yuffie. But to the contrary, Cloud had not heard the term, and glancing around, it seemed that no one else had either, save Aeris, who looked as if she was struggling to remember something once familiar.

"Oh, but they do not," said Bugenhagen. "Most know the Lifestream only as the source of their Mako energy, and do not know, nor care to know, any more about it."

"But what the hell is this Lifestream thing, and what's it got to do with Mako an' ShinRa?" said Barret.

"Mako, the Lifestream…both arbitrary names that we assign to a concept that we do not understand," said Bugenhagen, nodding. "Even I, who have spent most of my life studying the Planet, can tell you very little of the way the Lifestream actually works.

"Well, what can you tell us, then?" asked Cloud, patience waning.

"Ho ho, what can I tell one such as you…" said Bugenhagen, peering over his small darkened lenses at Cloud. "Not much, I'm afraid. You know it all already, or you think you do. But when the time comes for the Planet to die, you'll understand that you know absolutely nothing."

"The Planet dyin'? Hell no, we ain't gonna let that happen!" declared Barret.

"That's right! We're AVALANCHE!" seconded Tifa.

"Avalanche? What is that, a band of some sort?" said Bugenhagen. "I'm sorry, but it's so hard to keep track of current events, out here in the middle of nowhere."

Barret swelled his chest. "AVALANCHE is an activist—"

"Terrorist…" muttered Cloud.

"—group! We fight ShinRa ta save the Planet!"

"Save the Planet? Oh ho hoooo, what fun," said Bugenhagen.

"Fun?! What you talkin' about, old man???"

"Your goal is noble, to be sure, but I fear that you lack perspective. But then, that is why we elderly are here, isn't it? To provide the young and foolhardy with the benefits of our hard-earned wisdom even as we bore them with tales of the good old days and badger them to get off our lawns. Not many lawns around here though, ho ho."

"You going to start making sense at some point, Grandpa?" said Cloud irritably.

"Sense? Ho ho hoo, I always make sense! To myself anyway," said Bugenhagen, evidently amused at himself. "But you wanted to learn about the Planet, did you not? What can I tell you about?"

"About the Lifestream, please," said Aeris.

"Ah yes, the Lifestream. Come with me," he said, walking off towards a door leading deeper into the tower. The team hesitated. "Come, come! But I'm afraid I can only fit three of you."

"Fit? What are you talking about?" said Cloud. But Bugenhagen simply remained at the doorway, gesturing for them to follow. He sighed. "Okay, Aeris, Barret and…Tifa will go."

"I think you should go, Cloud," said Aeris.

"I think it'd be wasted on me, Tifa would appreciate it."

"No, I think you should go, Cloud," said Tifa.

Cloud looked at her in surprise. There wasn't much of a precedent for Tifa and Aeris agreeing this easily, but they both seemed sure of themselves. "Fine, whatever."

"Good, good. Let us go, then," said Bugenhagen. He proceeded through the door, followed by Barret and Aeris. Cloud shook his head and begrudgingly followed suit. He entered what appeared to be a laboratory of sorts, with all sorts of unidentified scientific instruments and machines. Bugenhagen stopped at a large silver telescope, pointed down at a slide with a spot of green. "Look, look here," he said. Cloud walked over and peered into the eyepiece.

The substance below was indeed green, but that was about all it had in common with the placid green dot visible to the naked eye. It seemed to be multicolored, with shades of greens, reds, blues, yellows, purples, and some colors Cloud couldn't even identify. But more than that, the liquid was turbulent: swirling, bubbling, and moving all over the device's field of vision. It seemed alive, ready to jump right off the slide, if not start talking. Intrigued, Cloud stepped back to allow Barret and Aeris to look. "The hell..?" said Barret after looking. When Aeris stepped up, she peered down to examine the substance with her naked eye first. Her mouth moved silently, and she seemed about to speak, but remained silent as she looked into the telescope. She stared for an unusually long time, almost two full minutes, before looking up. Cloud was astonished to see that her eyes were large and bright, close to tears.

"She knows…" said Bugenhagen quietly.

"Knows what?" said Barret. "What the hell is that stuff?"

"That 'stuff'," said Bugenhagen, "is what you call Mako. However, that name does nothing to convey its true nature. Mako is more than just a random material contained in the Planet's core."

"Sure, man, it's what keeps the Planet goin'!" said Barret.

"The wisdom of the Ancients…" Cloud muttered.

"Yes, yes…" said Bugenhagen. "So the resident cynic does have a contribution…"

"Sephiroth told me, back in Mt. Nibel, about how Materia was condensed Mako, containing the wisdom of the Ancients…and that was how humans could gain supernatural powers from using it."

"Yes, but did he ever tell you how the wisdom of the Ancients got into Mako in the first place? Ho ho, did they just melt and flow into the Planet?"  
"Never thought about it, really," said Cloud.

"Well, what your friend," (Cloud's insides jolted at this) "did not tell you is that not only the wisdom of the Ancients is in Mako, but the Ancients themselves. And not only the Ancients, but plants, animals, bacteria, humans…everything alive on this entire Planet."

"Whadda you mean?" said Barret.

"The Lifestream," said Bugenhagen solemnly. "The Mako which flows through the Planet is actually the Lifestream. The Lifestream is the source of Spirit Energy, the vital force of life."

"I don' get it," said Barret.

"Everything, all life, you see, is really the same. What distinguishes us from rocks and dirt is our Spirit Energy. When life comes into the world it is through the Spirit Energy flowing through the Lifestream. Seeds, baby animals, children, all are endowed with Spirit Energy from the Lifestream, and when they die and decompose, they release their energy back into the Lifestream, making a perfect cycle. However, the use of Mako energy disrupts this cycle. By extracting and burning Mako, ShinRa is decreasing the amount of Spirit Energy available to the Planet. If left unchecked, this will mean the cessation of new life. Populations of all lifeforms will start to decrease, the ecosystems will lose all balance, and the Planet will decay and, eventually, it will die."

"So…ShinRa ain't jes' killin' the Planet, but they're killin' life itself," said Barret slowly. Bugenhagen nodded. "Shit, man, we really do hafta stop 'em."

"Ah, if it were only that simple," said Bugenhagen. "But, as I said, your perspective needs adjusting."

"What the hell's wrong with my perspective? ShinRa's killin' everything, and they gotta be stopped!"

"Oh, most assuredly, yes, yes. But you cannot think that simply stopping one corporation will reverse everything and bring about your much-hoped for happy ending."

"What do you mean?" asked Aeris, a slight tremor in her voice.

"I hear the cries of the Planet…" said Bugenhagen quietly. "It is in pain, excruciating pain."

"Yeah, from ShinRa!" said Barret.

But Bugenhagen shook his head. "Mako reactors are a part of the problem, yes. But there is more. Something deeper, more insidious than crudely extracting its energy. Something is killing it from the inside, threatening not a slow death through exsanguination, but a sudden, cataclysmic demise."

"…Sephiroth?" Cloud said uncertainly.

"I do not know what this threat is, but whatever it is, I doubt it could be caused by any one man alone."

"You don't know Sephiroth…" Cloud muttered, but let it drop.

"It does not matter," said Bugenhagen. "One way or another, the Crisis of the Planet is coming. No matter what you do, or who you stop, whatever you save or destroy, the time is coming when the Planet, life, everything we know will be thrown into question, and the death of all will be eminent."

"What do you mean?" said Cloud. "What crisis? What's going to happen?"

"Alas, I wish I knew. All I know is that the Crisis is coming, and that right soon."

"Cloud? Barret? What was all that about?" asked Tifa as the three emerged from the laboratory.

"Yeah, what'd we miss?" chirped Yuffie.

"Heavy shit, man," said Barret.

Cloud nodded. "Let's get going," he said after a moment.

"Oh, Cloud, wait a minute," said Aeris, running back to the lab door as Bugenhagen emerged. "Mr. Bugenhagen, sir?"

"Yes, yes, child, what is it?"

"The Promised Land…do you know anything about it? Does it really exist?"

"The Promised Land, eh?" said Bugenhagen, peering at her somewhat askance. "It's been a while since someone has mentioned that to me. A long while indeed. I suppose what I must ask is, what do you mean, 'does it exist'?"

Aeris paused a second, taken aback. "Um…is it real?"

"Real? Well, for the Cetra it was certainly real enough. It was their dream, their reward after generations of labor and strife. They didn't need the motivation of a reward, of course, they worked selflessly and cultivated life for its own sake, but always they had the visage of the Promised Land beckoning to them at the end of their long journey. But as to whether it was a real, physical place, or a metaphor for something, or merely just an idea, I am afraid that truth was lost with them."

"Oh…I see…" said Aeris.

"But you," said Bugenhagen, lowering his glasses. "Yes, how could I have missed it? You are one of them, aren't you? You are a Cetra!"

"The last one," said Aeris. "But what about you?" she asked suddenly. "You know all this about the Planet and the Cetra, are you—"

"A Cetra? Oh, ho ho, no, child, I am as human as your friends here. Surely you can feel this."

"Well, yes, but I thought, maybe you had some Ancient blood, or knew one, or something…"

"No, no, I am afraid that I am as human as your friends here. Merely older and, I flatter myself, wiser than most ever get around to becoming."

"Oh. I'm sorry," said Aeris, downcast.

"Don't be, child. And don't lose hope, either. For as long as you live, the knowledge of the Cetra lives within you," said Bugenhagen. "The Promised Land, whatever it may be, may yet become known to you.

Aeris nodded slowly. "I hope so…"

After leaving the old man's abode, the group returned to the canyon floor and checked in with Wahan at the front gate, who reported that Andy and his mechanics were still working on their car.

"Well, now what?" asked Cait Sith.

"Looks like we have some more time to kill," said Cloud with a shrug. As ever, he was uncomfortable having leisure time when Sephiroth was on the loose, but there was naught to be done. And there was a lot that had been discussed to be digested. "Everyone just do your own thing. We'll meet back here at sundown."

They all went their separate ways, save Cloud, who opted to stay near the gate to get news of the repairs as soon as possible. He thought back to what Red XIII's supposed grandfather had said. So apparently ShinRa's Mako energy was really nothing less than the energy of all life itself, being taken out of circulation in the Planet's Lifestream only to be burned for cheap power. It sounded pretty far-fetched, but somehow it made sense. It explained Barret's claim that ShinRa was killing the Planet, though Barret surely had not grasped the entirety of the problem. It also squared with what Sephiroth had told him about the wisdom of the Ancients coming from Mako: the Ancients had died, and taken their knowledge and powers with them into the Lifestream. And what about Sephiroth? Was he connected to all this? Bugenhagen had mentioned something killing the Planet from the inside, an "insidious threat." Yet again, this new knowledge had done nothing but leave Cloud with more questions, the answers to which he could only learn when he finally found Sephiroth.


	34. Great Warrior

Great Warrior

Cloud waited by the gate, thinking, until he looked up to notice Tifa approaching from the village. The rest started to trickle back, until once more they were all gathered, save Red XIII, who remained missing.

"Any news on the car?" Cloud asked Wahan at the gate.

"They are finished with the repairs, I believe, they are now testing it to ensure that it will not malfunction again when started."

Cloud growled at the delay, but there was little to be done about it. So here they were, with no car, stuck in an environmentalist commune at the bottom of a canyon as night was falling. Grand.

"Any ideas?" asked Barret.

"Hey, let's go sit by the fire," said Yuffie, pointing to the bonfire in the middle of the village. Cloud disliked heading away from the car, but as there wasn't much to be done except wait, they might as well do it somewhere with light. They walked over to the fire and settled down in a circle around it. They were all silent for a while, looking at the fire. Fire had a remarkable ability to inspire contemplation: even Yuffie looked thoughtful as she stared into the flames, or perhaps through the flames, to a location unknown.

"Bonfires are funny, Cloud, y'know?" said Tifa from beside him. Cloud turned to face her. "They make you remember all sorts of things."

"Like what?"

"Things I don't want to remember. Nibelheim, five years ago."

"Yeah," said Cloud. The fire had brought the same awful memory to his mind as well.

"But there's something else, too." Cloud waited expectantly. "Cloud, do you…are you…no, never mind."

"What is it?" Cloud asked, but Tifa shook her head fervently and said no more, biting her lip. He shrugged it off.

Next Barret spoke up. "Cosmo Canyson…I always promised the guys, Biggs n' Jessie n' Wedge, that we'd come here. Never been before, but we'd heard rumors, 'bout how it was all friendly to the planet an' such. Promised 'em we'd come here an' celebrate after we won."

"Won? Won what?" said Cait Sith.

"Won 'gainst ShinRa."

"Did you ever really think you had a chance? Did you really think that your little group would destroy the entire ShinRa corporation?" said Cait Sith, a bit harshly.

"I dunno…I guess not. Mebee it was stupid."

"No, it wasn't stupid!" said Aeris, firing up as she shot Cait Sith an evil eye across the fire. "Barret, you were doing the right thing! You were standing up for what you believed in!"

"Well sure, that sounds great, but what's the point if you're up against overwhelming odds? What's the point in idealism if you're doomed to fail?" persisted Cait Sith, to Cloud's surprise. With the possible exception of Yuffie, the cat was the last member of the party Cloud expected to get into a philosophical discussion.

"Idealism is all there is! It's what separates us from beasts, who don't care about anything except survival!"

"Oh, so I'm a beast now?"

"Present company excluded," said Aeris acidly.

"Why thank you," said Cait Sith. "It's not like I don't have my own ideals, anyway, but I just don't see the point in fighting and dying for them, especially when your actions will have little real effect. I mean, I've been through a lot, sister, and trust me, I wouldn't have lasted half as long as I have if I didn't know how put higher callings and such on hold and just do what needed to be done."

"Like what?" demanded Aeris.

"Like…stealing, con games, whatever," Cait Sith said after a pause. "Like I was tellin' Red the other day, besides the Gold Saucer, job offers for a talking cat are pretty scarce, and I had to get by somehow."

"So you just took whatever you wanted from people, and—"

"Aeris, Cait Sith…enough," said Tifa quietly. Aeris stopped, though continuing to glare across the fire at the cat, and the group was quiet again.

Cloud moved closer to Aeris, who was sitting beside him. "What was that all about?" he asked quietly.

"What…did you hear him?" she hissed.

"I heard him. But still, you don't usually fire up quite that quickly."

Aeris stared mutely into the fire before answering. "No…I guess not."

Cloud waited for a moment. "Well?" he asked at last.

"I talked to a lot of people here when we split up, talked to the Elders and Bugenhagen some more. About my people. I mean, sure I've heard that I was the last, but I never quite gave up hope that there was another out there. As soon as I heard what this place was, I thought for sure that if there were another Cetra, anywhere, that this would be where I would find them. But everyone here was positive that they had never met one, never even heard of one. It just kind of hit me today that I really am alone."

"You're not alone, Aeris," said Cloud. "You have us."

Aeris smiled slightly at him and grasped his hand briefly, but then turned back to the fire. "I know, Cloud. And I appreciate that more than you realize. But there are many things about me that I don't think any human could really understand. But I wish you could…"

Cloud was wondering how to respond to this, but was saved the trouble by the long-awaited return of Red XIII, who slowly walked up to the fire and sat on his hind legs with them.

"I apologize for my lateness," he said. "I was busy visiting all my friends here."

"No problem," said Cloud.

"Hey, Red, I gotta question for ya," said Barret, speaking up for the first time since Cait Sith's censure. "How come ya never told us your real name? Nanaki, right?"

Red XIII looked down. "That is indeed my name. However, I hold no great attachment to it, and was in fact glad to be able to gain a different name in your eyes, even if it was simply a code designated me by Hojo.

"Why don't you like your name?" asked Aeris.

Red XIII sighed. "My name was granted me by my father and mother."

There was a pause. "Well, yeah, that's usually the way it works," said Yuffie, speaking what they were all thinking. "What's wrong with that?"

"My father is wrong with it," said Red XIII simply. But he did not elaborate.

"Can you tell us what's wrong with your father?" asked Aeris gently.

Red XIII growled quietly. "I do not remember much of my father. Just that…I looked up to him. Respect has never been so misplaced. He left when I was very young, at the Battle of Nattak Cave. A local tribe of savages and monsters, the Gi, had been harassing us for a time, and one day they finally launched an all-out assault on the canyon. Many humans here along with the last of my people, including my mother, gave their lives in that battle to defend the canyon. All except my father.

"What happened to him?" asked Tifa.

"No one knows in certainty. His body was never recovered, no trace of him ever found, and there is no account of his actions in the battle. The answer is clear to me. My father fled the battle to save his own life, leaving my mother and all the rest of us to die. I only survived because I was as yet too young to fight. And so I am the only one of my race left, unless my worthless father is still alive somewhere. I hope he is not. My only goal is to live my life nobly, to ensure that my race is remembered with some degree of honor.

"That's terrible…" said Tifa. "I'm sorry, we never knew…"

"So you're the last of your people, too…" said Aeris. Red XIII nodded. "I know how that feels."

"Me too, man," said Cait Sith. "Ain't a cat like me anywhere I know."

"So that is why I detest my given name," said Red XIII quietly. "And that is also why I cannot accompany you any further."

This earned a "What?" from several members of the group. But Red XIII nodded. "I have told you from the start that I would travel with you until we reached my home. Now I am here. I of course wish you all the success in the world, as your cause is a noble one, but I feel that I must stay here and defend my home and friends as my father never did."

Cloud shrugged. "You do what you have to, I guess," he said, though in truth he was a little sorry to be losing him. Sometimes it seemed that the quiet creature was the only one among them with a trace of common sense, excepting himself, of course. Looking around the circle, he could see that the rest of the party echoed his regret. They had been consistently picking up members since first encountering Aeris back in Midgar, but this was the first time any of them had left.

"Please, Red XIII, we'll need all the help we can get against Sephiroth!" said Tifa, but Red XIII shook his head. "I'm afraid my mind is made up. I must stay."

"Ho hoo, yes, staying here to guard the canyon," said a familiar voice, and they looked up to see the tiny Bugenhagen standing near them, still seeming to float. "But first, Nanaki, there is something I must show you."

"Please, Grandfather, this is my last night with my comrades…my friends. I would like to remain with them for now."

"Oh ho, no, I am afraid this is quite urgent. You may return to your friends later, but for now you must come with me."

"Should we come with you?" asked Aeris.

"No, no, thank you, but this is something which Nanaki alone must see. Come, come, Nanaki!" said Bugenhagen, gesturing to Red XIII, who gave a final regretful glance around the fire before departing to follow his grandfather.

"Grandfather, forgive me, but may I ask what was so urgent to…"

"Shh, Nanaki, you'll see, you will see…" said Bugenhagen. Despite people referring to him by it all day, Red XIII's true name still sounded odd in his ears after not hearing it for all this time. Even when he had resided here, though, he had not held any great attachment for it, it being given to him by his disgrace of a father. He led Red XIII on to the canyon wall at the edge of the valley. The path seemed disturbingly familiar to Red XIII.

"Grandfather, are we going to the cave?"

"The Cave of Nattak, yes. There is something you must see."

"Please, Grandfather, I have seen the cave, and have no desire to visit it again right now."

"Ah, but you have not seen everything, I can guarantee you that, and you must see something tonight!" Red XIII was skeptical – he had scoured the cave himself when looking unsuccessfully for some trace of his father, and knew that he'd seen what there was to see. But he respected his grandfather enough to go along with him for now. Bugenhagen led them to the hole in the canyon which opened up into the cavern. "I'm afraid I must ask you to lead your old man here, my eyes are not what they used to be…but then, no human has ever had eyes such as yours."

"Of course, Grandfather," said Red XIII, taking the lead as they descended into the cave.

Some of the more superstitious residents of Cosmo Canyon claimed that the Cave of Nattak was haunted by the ghosts of the Gi, still restless even after their defeat, and while Red XIII naturally put no stock in such wild rumors, he had to admit that he could see where such people were coming from. Strange whispers and eerie cries seemed to echo through the stagnant air, but could not be readily attributed to any natural cause within the cave, nor to any animal resident, as the few creatures native to the canyon's arid climate made it a point to avoid the cave. Furthermore, the air itself seemed to hang unusually heavy upon them, and was filled with musty, unpleasant scents, which again seemed to have no easily evident source. But more than these, even, was the inexplicable sense of dread one quickly developed when navigating the twists and turns of the cavern's tunnels, a feeling of claustrophobia, of fear, of the knowledge that right around the next bend lay your mortal enemy, jaws glistening with blood and hungry for yours. The Gi may have been defeated, but it would be a long while before they were forgotten.

"I believe this is it," said Bugenhagen after a while. Red XIII stopped and looked around, confused. He saw nothing in particular. "Yes, yes, this is it," said Bugenhagen again.

"I do not see anything Grandfather," said Red XIII.

"I know it's around here somewhere," said Bugenhagen, running his fingers along the cave wall. "Around…here…yes, here," he said as his hand stopped at a point which, to Red XIII, appeared quite nondescript. Bugenhagen paused. "Forgive me, Seto," he said, then pushed the spot on the wall.

"Seto?" thought Red XIII, but was distracted from the use of his father's name when a section of the cave wall suddenly rose up slightly and swung to the side to reveal a portal large enough for passage.

"Come, Nanaki! Come!" said Bugenhagen as he bounced along into the newly created doorway. Not sure quite what to expect anymore, Red XIII followed.

He knew them to be delving deeper into the canyon wall, but Red XIII observed to his surprise that the cave ahead seemed to be brightening. Knitting his eyebrows at this, he continued after Bugenhagen. The light continued to grow, perplexing him. He followed Bugenhagen around a final corner, and found the answer to this, and much more.

A large crack in the cave ceiling was just large enough to allow a view of the full moon, which bathed in pale, pure light a fairly large chamber. The floor here was quite uneven compared to the rest of the cave, but the room was otherwise unremarkable, save for right in the middle of the chamber. Here Red XIII was astonished to see a stone version of a Forensella, his species. The figure was standing straight up, as if knowing it was on display, and was adorned with a plethora of rods exuding from its stone skin, which appeared from the ornaments on their rear ends to be arrows. But Red XIII's eyes were drawn instead to its face, which struck a chord deep within him.

"…a statue?" said Red XIII. But even as he said it he knew it was false; the most gifted sculptor could never have crafted such eyes, filled with pain and yet full of strength and pride.

"You have heard, of course, of the Great Warrior of Cosmo Canyon, who according to legend slew hundreds at the Battle of Nattak Cave, and who gave his life to prevent the Gi from taking even one step into the Canyon.

"Yes, of course," said Red XIII; it was a legend with which all in the Canyon were familiar.

"Look, Nanaki. Look upon your father, the Great Warrior, Seto."

"Grandfather…I don't understand," said Red XIII in wavering voice.

"Seto made his stand here, in this chamber, and defeated hundreds of the Gi before their poisonous arrows finally took their toll and turned him to stone. The rest of the warriors fought valiantly as well, of course, but had it not been for Seto, the Gi surely would have made it through the cave and overwhelmed the Canyon."

Red XIII swallowed hard, eyes never leaving the stone figure. "Why was I never told of this before?"

"It was Seto's wish," Bugenhagen replied simply.

"But why? If this is true, then my father would be a hero in our history."

"Rest assured, it is true. And yes, he would indeed be revered by all in the Canyon. But your father wished for his deeds in the battle to remain unknown for your sake."

"For my sake?"

"Seto knew how much you looked up to him when you were small. He knew that should you hear of his death in battle, that you would feel almost obligated to follow his path: the warrior's path. He did not wish your path to be decided for you, but wished for you to be free to make your own decision. His determination to follow this course was strengthened by the knowledge of your race's decline: he did not want you, the last of the Forensella, to be set on a path not truly your own, but instead to forge your own destiny and thus your own ending to Forensellas' story. And so, before going off to fight, he made me swear that if he should perish, that I would be sure to keep his fate a secret known only to myself.

'Unfortunately, Seto did not count on your resourcefulness and determination. He did not think that you would search the cave for any clues of his fate and, when you failed to find any, that you would draw your own conclusions and declare him a coward. He never expected you to swear in your, forgive me, misguided adolescent fervor, to protect your homeland as he supposedly never did. So I decided to break my vow to Seto in order to preserve his original intention: to avoid forcing you onto a certain path through his actions."

Red XIII took some time to assimilate all this. "But why now?" he said at last. "You have known for years of my desire to stay here and protect Cosmo Canyon. Why are you just now telling me this?"

Bugenhagen sighed, as he polished his dark lenses with his sleeve. "I hesitated for a long while because breaking a vow is hardly something that one does lightly, even if one believes the reasons to be just. However, I finally decided that it must be done today. When I saw you with your companions around the fire, it became clear to me that in your heart, you had chosen your path, and it did not involve your staying here."

"So are you saying that I should go with Cloud and his friends?"

"I am not saying you should do anything. In fact, I think your companions are rather naïve and misguided. They fight to try to save the Planet, as if it were that easy. Even if they dismantled every Mako reactor and stopped this Sephiroth of theirs, they will only be delaying the inevitable. You know this as well as I."

"Indeed," said Red XIII.

"However, I can tell that be that as it may, you still know you have to go with them. And after all, there is nothing more honorable than fighting a battle that you are doomed to lose, simply because you had to make the effort. And who knows? In the battle that took place here, everyone in the Canyon was sure that the Gi would triumph, but thanks to the extraordinary valor of one warrior, this was not the case."

Red XIII nodded. "Grandfather, could you possibly leave my father and me alone for a moment?"

"Of course, Nanaki," said Bugenhagen, making his exit from the same passage through which they had entered.

Red XIII stood mutely and stared at the stone figure, at his father, the Great Warrior Seto. He did not know how long he stood: time had no meaning to him. He just stood and thought: about ShinRa, about Cloud and Barret and their respective quests against Sephiroth and ShinRa, about his grandfather, about Cosmo Canyon, about the Planet, about his mother, and about his father. But he was suddenly jarred from thought when he noticed something move near Seto's eyes. When he focused it was gone, but he could swear he saw a tear drop from the petrified Forensella's eyes. Red XIII felt his own eyes swell, as he raised his head to the moon and howled.

"The hell is that?" said Barret as a piercing howl rang through the night air. It was like that of a coyote, but somehow more. It was a howl that told of sorrow and regret, of despair on a scale impossible to experience by a mere animal.

"Who cares?" said Cloud as he returned to the bonfire. "I just checked on the car again: it's ready to go. And we need to get going."

"But it's night," said Aeris. "And Red XIII,"

"We've lost too much time here already. As for Red XIII, or Nanaki, or whoever he is, he made up his mind.

"Can't we at least say goodbye?" said Tifa.

"We don't know where the two of them went or how long they'll be. There's no telling how much further we'd be set back if we waited for them," said Cloud sternly. "We have to get moving."

"So this is it, Red XIII…Nanaki…you will be missed," said Aeris.

"Damn, man, I liked the furball, even if he was a lil' weird sometimes," seconded Barret.

"Wasn't bad in a fight, either," said Cloud, thinking back to Red XIII's ruthless dispatching of Elena the Turk back in the Mythril Mines. "But let's go."

They filed out of the gate, and were just approaching the long trail up the canyon wall when…

"Wait!" called a familiar voice behind them. They turned to see Red XIII running full speed towards them. "Wait for me!"

"Hey, man, you're back!" said Cait Sith.

"Did you come back to see us off?" asked Aeris.

"No, I wish to accompany you once more, if you will permit me."

"'Ey, sure thing, Red!" said Barret. "But we thought you was stayin' behind!"

"Did your Grandfather tell you to come with us?" asked Tifa.

Red XIII shook his head. "It is too much to tell right now. Suffice it to say that I have changed my mind."

"Well, good to have you, then," said Cloud. "But what should we be calling you from now on?"  
"Hmm? Oh…" said Red XIII, thinking. "I believe Red XIII shall still do for now." Cloud shrugged and led the way up the path. Red XIII said no more, but his reasons for avoiding his name had changed. Before, he had been ashamed of his name. But he now saw that the name granted him by his father was an honor: an honor of which he had to prove himself worthy.

And once again, I'm not dead. Just been inactive for a REAL long time. I've had the beginnings of this chapter sitting inactive on my computer for a while, but recently I was reminded of it and decided to go ahead and finish it. Will I continue? Well, as I made clear from the beginning I make no promises, but at the moment I plan to. After the canyon things start picking up anyway, so hopefully I'll be able to find the inspiration to continue. So if anyone's still out there, enjoy.

As for the content, I think I kept it pretty much true to the original. Cait Sith and Aeris' idealism/pragmatism argument was an unintended addition which, like many new developments, was just kinda was where the writing took me. I like it, though. I feel like it gives some good character development for Cait Sith, something which I feel was sorely lacking in the game. I also elaborated quite a bit on Seto and changed his motives for desiring that his past be hidden from Red XIII: there wasn't much of a reason for it given in the game, and as usual, video game logic doesn't do it for me. And yes, I'm going to continue to call Red XIII, well, Red XIII. I'm not terribly fond of the name Nanaki, and I rather like Red XIII, so yes, he shall continue to go by the experimental code name assigned him by a mad scientist. So sue me. And for that matter, it's what the game did too, so sue Squaresoft/Square/whatever the heck they call themselves these days while you're at it.


	35. Nibelheim

Nibelheim

Finally out of the red rocks that housed Cosmo Canyon, the buggy left the mountains behind it to reach grassy plains once more.

"Bout time," declared Barret. "Was getting' sick o' seein' orange everywhere." Cloud usually might have taken the opportunity to tell Barret to shut up, but was occupied with his own thoughts.

"Cloud?" said Tifa. "Are we going…"

"Yes," said Cloud, knowing that her thoughts were on the exact same subject as his. For these weren't just any grasslands they were now cruising through, but instead were the plains that lay out before their old hometown of Nibelheim. He hadn't been back since the night of the fire, the night that had changed everything, and thus had no idea what to expect. Perhaps there wouldn't even be a town there anymore. Either way, he wasn't looking forward to it. Rather, every fiber of his being was screaming against returning to the town, with a vehemence that surprised him. There was the horror that transpired five years ago, certainly, but there was something more, some deep-seated, apparently irrational fear, the source of which Cloud could not put his finger on. However, there was still the irrepressible feeling in his gut that had been guiding him since Costa del Sol that this was the way he had to go if he was to find Sephiroth. Cloud had too many inexplicable mental processes going on in his mind for his liking, but there was nothing for it now but to follow his gut to Sephiroth.

"Hey, look, there's a town up ahead!" said Aeris from the front passenger seat. Cloud's head shot up to look. Indeed, approaching quickly from the horizon, was the small remote village of Nibelheim, shadowed by its looming namesake, Mt. Nibel, the tallest of the Renasto mountain range, further to the north.

"And this is home…" said Cloud quietly.

"This is your hometown? Nibelheim, was it?" said Aeris. Cloud nodded.

"Huh? This is that place Sephiroth burned up?" asked Barret.

Cloud nodded again. "Back to where it all started…I should've known Sephiroth would come back here."

"It would appear that he has chosen to leave it intact, this time," remarked Red XIII as Tifa pulled the buggy to a stop at the town's outskirts, and Cloud saw his point: the town had been rebuilt, and appeared none the worse for Sephiroth's passage. It was more or less just as it was, before: a two story inn near the entrance, a simple fountain in the town square, with a variety of small shops and houses surrounding it, and. Overall, a quiet little hamlet established at the base of a mountain that had little to do with the events of the world as a whole. Or at least it hadn't until it became the impetus for Sephiroth's fall. But still, with his last memories of the town being its being consumed with flames, it was quite unsettling for Cloud to see Nibelheim so normal and peaceful, as if that day five years ago had been all in him imagination. But Tifa had been there, too.

"It's a nice little town," said Aeris. "Was it like this when you were here?"

"Yeah," said Cloud. "Almost exactly like this, in fact. My house used to be over there," he said, pointing to one of the dwellings across the square, "and that was Tifa's next door."

"Tifa," said Cloud, "do you remember that guy with the camera, from five years ago? He asked to take a picture of Sephiroth?"

"Hm? Yes, I think so…" said Tifa.

"I saved him that night in the fire, I'll bet he's still here. Let's try and find him."

"W-why?" said Tifa, sounding uncomfortable. "Do you really want to see that picture?"

"No, but I wouldn't mind finding out what's happened here in the past five years, and seeing if he knew anything about Sephiroth. What was his name?"

"Um, Nelson, I think. George Nelson."

"Alright," said Cloud, as he strode around the fountain to cross the town square. "This was his house, I think," he said as he approached one of the small houses and knocked at the door. A few moments later an unfamiliar woman opened the door.

"Um, hello?" she said uncertainly. Cloud was suddenly aware of the makeup of their motley crew: three animals, a massive gun-armed man, two women, a young teenager, and himself, a man clad entirely in black with a mysterious leather bag. Well, not much to be done about it now.

"Yes, I was wondering if you knew of a George Nelson?"

"George Nelson? No, I'm sorry, that doesn't sound familiar."

"He used to live in the house right here before the fire five years ago," said Cloud.

"Oh, the fire? Yes, I heard about that, what a horrible tragedy. But I'm sorry, there were no survivors. I'm afraid he must be dead."

Cloud shook his head. "No, there were survivors. Myself and this young woman, for two," he said, gesturing to Tifa. "And I believe this Nelson survived as well."

The woman looked nervous for a moment, but then anger rose to her face. "Sir, I moved here soon after the fire, and I'm quite sure there weren't any survivors. You shouldn't joke about things like that."

"Joke?" said Cloud. "You think this is a joke to us? My mother died in that fire, I watched my entire hometown die right before my eyes. Don't tell me this is a fucking joke!"

"I'm calling the police," said the woman, ducking inside and slamming the door.

"What was that all about?" asked Cait Sith.

"Bullshit, that's what it was about," said Cloud. "She doesn't know what she's talking about, let's find someone who does."

They visited several more people, but garnered similar results to the first. "What the hell?" exclaimed Cloud as yet another door slammed on them. "What is wrong with these people?

"Forget them, what's wrong with this guy?" said Yuffie. Cloud angrily turned to see what she was talking about, and saw her gesturing to a hunch-backed figure ambling along the streets, completely covered in a cloak. A black cloak…

"Sephiroth!" Cloud said, approaching the figure.

"Se-phi-roth…" the figure said slowly, in an almost inhuman voice.

"Ey, look, there's another one!" said Barret, pointing down a small cobblestone path. And indeed, there was another hobbling figure, hidden in black. Well, it would seem that it wasn't Sephiroth then. But still, there was something very familiar about these men.

"Cloud!" said Aeris. "Do you remember that guy back home in Sector 5? The sick guy in the pipe?"

"Yeah…" said Cloud thoughtfully, thinking back to the moaning man, also clad in black. But he had had a tattoo, the number "2", if Cloud remembered correctly…Cloud reached for the figure and brushed aside the cloak to look at his arm. The man promptly moved away, but not before Cloud caught a glimpse of a "4" tattooed on his bicep. So these cloaked men appeared connected to that man in the pipe back in Midgar. Interesting, but it told them nothing. Still, Cloud didn't trust coincidences, particularly when Sephiroth was in the picture. "Let's see what these guys are up to," he said, and quickly strode up to the figure Barret had pointed out. Cloud was little surprised to see several more identical figures walking in the same direction. But he was surprised when he observed where they all seemed to be heading.

"Damn…"said Cloud quietly. For he found himself staring up at the all-too familiar black exterior of the ShinRa mansion, apparently the only building in town that had survived the flames, thanks to its distance from the rest of the town. "Or maybe because Sephiroth wanted it to survive," Cloud thought. After all, it was here where he had found the books and records that had told him what he was. Maybe this place still held some importance to him. Wordlessly he led the way towards the towering building, the rest of the team following.

"Cloud, do you really think this is such a good idea?" Tifa said, catching up with him. But seeing the look in his face, she dropped the question and was silent.

The rusty gate of the fence surrounding the manor squealed a complaint as Cloud swung it open and marched through the barren front yard towards the front door. Apparently while the mansion had survived the flames, it had remained unoccupied for many if not all of the past five years. He tried the front door, and was relatively unsurprised to find it unlocked. Steeling himself against the memories contained within the dark walls, Cloud took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway.

The interior of the house was much as Cloud remembered, the pale sunlight from the overcast sky outside streaming in through the many huge windows to light the fashionably furnished interior, though a thick coat of dust over the floor betrayed the lack of activity the mansion had seen in recent years.

"I don't see any of those cloaked guys in here," remarked Yuffie.

"But someone has been here recently," said Red XIII.

Cloud turned to him sharply. "How do you know?"

"There is dust fluttering in the air, more than we have disturbed with our own entrance," he replied. "There is also a faint scent which I cannot quite identify, but I believe it to be something alive."

"One o' those guys in black?" said Barret.

Red XIII sniffed the air several times, then shook his maned head. "I cannot tell."

Cloud nodded. "Everyone fan out and search the place. Give a shout if you find anything or anyone."

The group dispersed to the different wings of the large house. Cloud took it upon himself to search the upper right wing of the house, where he had found the staircase leading down to the basement, and Sephiroth. He entered the dim hallway and searched the two smaller rooms, apparently servants' quarters due to the inferior décor and creature comforts, before taking a deep breath and moving on to the final room. His eyes automatically jumped to the stone wall of the room, and he felt his stomach drop out. The old wooden door was swinging open, freshly lit torches illuminating the rickety stairway down into the basement. Someone was down there.

He called out something, he wasn't even aware what. Tifa was the first to arrive. "Everything alright, Cloud?" she said, before her eyes were drawn to the open door. She instantly realized the significance of this detail, and instinctively clutched his arm. Soon the rest of the team was gathered in the bare, musty chamber.

"So you found the door like that, Cloud?" Barret asked. Cloud nodded. "Shit, man, so does that mean…"

"Cloud, is it him?" Aeris asked. Cloud was confused until he remembered his innate sense of Sephiroth's direction. Odd that it hadn't alerted him the moment he entered the house, or discovered the doorway. He considered for a moment, concentrating on what his gut was telling him rather than any conscious thoughts. "I think so…" he said. "But I don't know…something seems wrong."

"Wrong? Like a trap?" said Cait Sith.

Cloud shook his head. "No, just something seems off. It feels like Sephiroth, but…I don't know, something just feels different than it should, I can't explain it."

"Well, I dunno 'bout any o' that, but I know what we gotta do now," said Barret. "Let's get down there and kick his ass!"

"What if he has that freaky monster thing with him again?" asked Yuffie.

Cloud's stomach tightened further. He had forgotten about Jenova, Sephiroth's monstrous mother-figure which had fought for him aboard the ShinRa freighter. "I don't think Jenova is with him," he responded. "The quarters down there are pretty tight, I doubt she'd have much room to operate." He didn't mention the true reason for his judgment: that he did not sense her terrible, all-too familiar presence. He noted with discomfort that Aeris gave him a characteristic piercing glance at this, but she said nothing. "Okay, so is everyone ready?" There was a chorus of uncertain murmurs at this. "C'mon people, get in gear!" Cloud said forcefully. "This is it! Now are you ready?"

"Hell yeah! Let's do this!" said Barret, raising his gun-arm. The rest added their own slightly more convincing assents, Aeris and Yuffie drawing their weapons, Mog the moogle starting to bounce slightly with Cait Sith atop.

"Alright, let's go," said Cloud, as he drew his own weapon and cautiously started down the staircase. The questionable-looking stairs again held his weight readily, and Cloud ignored Barret's inevitable protest about the security of the staircase. He needed to focus on the upcoming fight. But even he could not fully get his mind in gear for battle. There was no sense of urgency, of finality, and he could not shake the feeling that while the person downstairs doubtlessly felt like Sephiroth, that something was not right, that this was not the end. He shook his head free of such groundless doubts. He was here, as was Sephiroth. It was time to finish it.

He reached the ground of the horribly familiar dark dungeon-like basement of the mansion. The basement again seemed lifeless save for a few torches adorning the walls, and a light exuding from the distant door at the end of the corridor, behind which Cloud knew lay the library where Sephiroth had discovered the secrets which changed him, and Cloud, forever. But even the distant, beckoning light could not completely distract Cloud from the stifling atmosphere of despair in the basement that had overwhelmed him five years ago. And though he was now older and in the company of his team, he could not help but feel unease creep into his heart from an unknown source. Cloud shook himself free of the inexplicable fear and strode quickly to the library door, Buster Sword in hand. He waited until the entire team was grouped behind him, their own weapons at the ready, took a deep breath, and kicked open the door.

The old door flew off its hinges, clattering to the stone floor, and Cloud leapt through the doorway, quickly swiveling to the left where the majority of the bookshelves lay. Nothing. But then, Sephiroth had been beyond the passageway here in the final room of the library. Cloud sprinted through the narrow, book-lined passageway to the left of the doorway into the end, circular room. And there, standing behind a desk at the far end of the room, was Sephiroth.

But again, something seemed wrong with him. As before, on the ShinRa ship, Sephiroth seemed out of sorts, standing awkwardly and gazing off at nothing in particular.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled, determined that his enemy knew who faced him. And as before, Sephiroth's head jerked up, his eyes came into focus, and he was promptly himself once more.

"There you are," said the hated voice. "I was wondering when you would make it. But then, you seem to have a habit of finding diversions along your way, don't you?"

"Not my choice, believe me," Cloud said through gritted teeth. "All I care about is finding you and finishing this."

"Of course," said Sephiroth. "But what exactly is it that you think you are finishing?"

"This rivalry. I tried to kill you five years ago, and didn't. I'm here to finish it."

"Rivalry? You think you are my rival?" said Sephiroth, the smallest trace of a smile on his face. "Cloud, do not flatter yourself. But then, whatever excuses you tell yourself do not matter to me."

"Shut up and draw…where's your sword?" said Cloud, for there was no trace of the Masamune. Strange, Cloud could not imagine Sephiroth traveling without his massive katana.

Sephiroth shrugged. "It is someplace safe. I do not require it at the moment."

"So much the better for us," Cloud said, squaring himself in a ready position.

"Save yourself the trouble, Strife, there will be no battle today," said Sephiroth calmly. "In fact, I must depart."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Cloud said, stepping forward.

Sephiroth simply smiled and shook his head. "But wait," he said, staring past Cloud at one of the group. "There you are." Cloud turned, and saw that Sephiroth was looking at Aeris.

"Me?" Aeris said, surprised.

"You are the Cetra, the last of the Cetra," said Sephiroth, now ignoring Cloud along with the rest of the group, concentrating solely on the flower girl.

"So?"

"What are you doing with these misguided travelers? Surely there are much grander ends that a Cetra could pursue than this migration," said Sephiroth, not unkindly.

"What do you mean?" said Aeris, her voice now an odd mix of affected bravado and real fear.

"I imagine there is much you would like to know about your race, much that you will not learn on your current journey. And while your people themselves may have vanished, their legacy lives on."

"Their legacy..?"

"The Temple of the Ancients," said Sephiroth. "One of the last remaining strongholds of the Cetra. The spirit of the Cetra lives on in that place. There is much you could learn about there about your people, about yourself."

"You…you're lying! Why would you tell me that?" said Aeris.

"Why would I not?" said Sephiroth. "There is no need for us to be enemies."

"I don't believe you," said Aeris, though she could not hide her trembling voice.

Sephiroth shrugged. "As you wish." He turned back to Cloud. "I trust I shall see you at the Reunion?"

_The __Reunion_…

"Reunion? What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Cloud.

Sephiroth was about to speak, but was cut off by a shout of "Fuck this!" from behind as Barret opened fire with his gun-arm. Sephiroth grunted and stepped backward as the bullets hit, but then stood tall once more. The bullets were now passing harmlessly through him as easily as through the air itself, stopping only when they ripped into the bookcase behind him.

"I suppose that is my cue to leave," said Sephiroth. He raised his arms and suddenly started rising towards the ceiling.

"Sephiroth!" said Cloud, but the SOLDIER continued his slow ascent. Cloud whipped forward his sword into a quick rising slash, but his blade passed through Sephiroth as easily as had Barret's bullets, and with as little effect. Before Cloud knew it Sephiroth was passing straight through the ceiling as he had phased through the floor of the ShinRa ship.

"Dammit Barret, you idiot!" said Cloud. He had been sure Sephiroth was about to say something important about this Reunion when Barret had attacked. "C'mon!" he said, as he broke through the team behind him and charged back through the basement. He knew Sephiroth was leaving this place. Cloud had to get out of the mansion and see where Sephiroth was going, he had to catch him before he vanished again. He ran up the stairs, and through the upstairs hallway, leapt from the balcony to the bottom floor, and burst through the front doors to find: nothing. There was no sign of Sephiroth anywhere, and even the strange black-cloaked men seemed to have disappeared. Cloud cursed violently.

"Where is he?" said Tifa.

"Hell if I know!" said Cloud. But then it hit him. "Mount Nibel," he said. "It has to be! Unless he were to backtrack, he'd have to go over Mount Nibel."

"Well then, let's go get the bastard!" said Barret.

Cloud was about to agree, but shook his head. "No…some of us should get the car and see if we can find another pass through the mountains and cut him off.

"You mean split up?" said Tifa.

Cloud ignored this. There was no time. "Tifa, you know the mountains better than any of us. Is there a pass that could accommodate the car?

"Um, I don't know…"

"Well then find one. Take Barret and Cait Sith, and try and find a path for the car through the mountains. The rest of us will follow him on foot."

"But…but what if you find him without us? You'll need all of us if we're going to fight him, right?" said Tifa.

"Dammit Tifa, not now!" said Cloud, and she shrunk back before his gaze, blazing with a fury not often seen in the impassive mercenary. "We have to make sure we find him if we're going to fight him at all! I am not losing him again! Now go!" Tifa reluctantly nodded, but only left when Barret dragged her off, Cait Sith in tow. "Okay, the rest of you, follow me!" said Cloud, and he ran for the mountain pass that was so laden with memories.

Though he had not traveled the path in five years, Cloud remembered the path perfectly, and he hardly slowed as he ran through the tight corridors through the mountain, past the Mako fountain where Sephiroth had told him about Materia and the Ancients, and up to the Mako reactor.

"Cloud, might Sephiroth not be inside? This reactor might have significance for him, correct?" said Red XIII as they approached.

"No. There's nothing for him there now," called Cloud over his shoulder, running all the while. He could not explain how he knew this, but there was no time to check his intuition, no time to stop. He ran from the Mako reactor's clearing back into another series of tunnels. He had never been this far along the path, and the pitch-black passages were unfamiliar. Even his Mako-enhanced eyes had trouble piercing the darkness sufficiently for him to avoid plunging into a wall. But he had to keep going, had to find Sephiroth, had to-

"OW! Son-of-a-bitch!" cried out a voice behind him. Cloud paid it no heed until a second voice called out "Cloud!" rather forcefully. He stopped his run and turned around. After a moment, he saw Yuffie lying on the floor, hands over a cut in her head.

"Keep going," he said flatly, and turned to run off again.

"She has just run headfirst into a stone wall, and you tell her to continue?" said Red XIII. "And what of Aeris?" Growling, Cloud turned to see Aeris bent over double, struggling to draw breath. "I'm…fine…Cloud," she managed. "Just…leave us…here…"

"Okay," said Cloud, preparing to leave.

"Cloud!" called Red XIII again.

"WHAT?"

Red XIII gazed up at him, unfazed. "You will not leave them here."

"Watch me," spat Cloud.

"I do not know what your ShinRa training taught you, but I was taught to never leave wounded comrades behind, and to protect females when necessary. These two are in no condition to defend themselves if Sephiroth attacked them, and I will not abandon them. If you continue, you do so alone."

"No, Red…don't worry about…us," Aeris panted. "We can take…care of ourselves."

It was this all-too familiar refrain from Aeris that finally caught Cloud's ear, and how strikingly in contrast it was with the reality of the situation. One of them was now bleeding profusely from a gash in the forehead, the other incapacitated with exhaustion. Red XIII was right: if Sephiroth found them like this, there would be no question of the outcome. And it was only as this thought dawned on him that he truly realized why he had wanted the easily fatigued Aeris to accompany him in the chase rather than stay behind with Tifa and Barret in the car: he had wanted to personally protect her from Sephiroth, who had shown such a disproportionate interest in her.

"Alright," Cloud said. "Let's just get out of these tunnels to somewhere with some light and get you two taken care of,"

"'Bout time," muttered Yuffie, holding a hand to her wound, and even Aeris did not protest as Cloud led them back to the clearing hosting the Mako reactor. He settled the two down on a pair of more or less accommodating rocks, Red XIII standing by. He cast a Cure spell on Yuffie, and though the gash on her forehead did not close completely, it at least stopped bleeding.

"You two alright for now?" Cloud asked. The girls nodded. "Okay, I'm going to see how the rest are doing." He took off his pack and dug through it until he found the PHS radio that Barret had distributed. He flicked on the radio, which instantly started spouting static. "This is Cloud, come in Tifa, Barret, Cait Sith." Several tries resulted in nothing, but at last a familiar voice responded "Spiky ass, what up? You find 'im?"

"We lost him," said Cloud flatly. "How about you three? Can you find a way through the mountains?"

Barret hesitated. "Eh, hold on, 'ere's Tifa."

"Cloud?" said Tifa's voice. "I've driven all along the edge of the mountains around Nibelheim, but it's pretty steep, a lot worse than those mountains where Red XIII came from. There's no way we could get the car up, and I don't think the rest of the mountain range would be any different even if I went further. I don't think we can do it."

It was all he could do to keep from dashing the radio to pieces on the ground. Shaking with fury, he set the radio down, then whipped out his sword, screamed, and slammed it down, burying its point in the rocky soil.

"Cloud? Are you alright?" Tifa's voice crackled up from the ground. Breathing hard, Cloud bent down and retrieved it.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," said Cloud. "The four of us are going to go ahead and see if we can find any trace of Sephiroth, but I doubt we're going to catch him unless he wants to be found. You all stay behind here and scour the town, see if you can find any clue as to where he's going."

"You mean, we're staying behind?"

Cloud ignored this. "Try and find some of those guys in black. If not, look around in the mansion basement, see if you can dig anything up in the library that he may have been looking through before we got there.

"But Cloud, we're splitting up?"

"We'll keep in touch with the PHS, and if either of us finds anything, we'll join up again. But we can't afford to pass over any information Sephiroth may have left behind. If you didn't notice, Sephiroth seemed to be pretty comfortable back there, he seemed to have a plan, not to mention that even when we did corner him, he had no problem getting out. We need to find out what's going on and try to get a step ahead of him. Any questions?"

"N-no, I guess not."

"Okay, Cloud out."


	36. The Lost Captain

The Lost Captain

After deactivating the radio, Cloud started pacing, thoughts racing through his mind. Twice now he had found Sephiroth, and twice Sephiroth had effortlessly escaped. It was as if Sephiroth only showed up to taunt him, or to make sure Cloud was on the right track. In the library, especially, he had seemed as if he were waiting for him, only to deliver a few seemingly nonsensical statements and leave. The Reunion? What was that? Sephiroth associating with anyone else seemed unlikely, but that was the only definition of a reunion, wasn't it? And why did he assume that Cloud would be there, or moreover, that Cloud would even know about it? Did it have something to do with the cloaked figures? Now that he thought about it, Cloud realized that the cloaks worn by the men were remarkably similar to Sephiroth's own black traveling cloak. So was Sephiroth in fact somehow connected to the strange men? What about Jenova? And what about Cloud himself? Cloud had been appointed the unofficial leader of this journey because of his knowledge of Sephiroth and the events surrounding him, but the longer they continued, the more Cloud found himself as in the dark as any of them. When the hell was any of this going to start making any sense?

"Cloud? That isn't good for your sword, is it?"

"Huh?" said Cloud as Aeris' voice broke into his thoughts. But it was only after Aeris' question that Cloud noticed that completely unconsciously, he was bashing his Buster Sword into the rocky ground.

"No…of course not," he said, dropping his sword to the ground, confused. "I'm just pissed. We found him again, and he got away again, and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it!"

"Cloud, it's alright. We'll find him again," said Aeris.

Cloud laughed humorlessly at the empty reassurance; he was not in the mood. He sat on a nearby rock, picked up his blade, and started to ferociously grind a whetstone from his pack along the edge to repair the nicks it had suffered from his unwitting abuse. Why had he started slamming it into the ground, anyway? He loved his sword, and he knew better than to do something like that, even unconsciously.

"Cloud!" said Aeris again. He was about to snap back at her when he noticed a sharp pain in his right hand. He looked down and saw that he had dropped the whetstone and was running his hand across the blade, cutting deeply into his flesh.

"What the hell?" Cloud muttered, staring bemusedly at the blood now gushing from his hand.

Aeris promptly rushed over, grabbed his hand, and, after ripping off his glove, placed her hand on the cut and healed the wound. "Cloud, what on earth is wrong?" she said worriedly.

"Hell if I know," said Cloud as he stared down at his hands, blood-stained sword in his left hand, Aeris' hand in his right. Aeris stared at him for a moment more, but did not reply, instead just squeezing his hand slightly. Cloud's arm twitched slightly at this. He was so used to wearing his leather combat gloves that he couldn't remember the last time his hand had felt the touch of another. His sword fell from his grasp as he almost unconsciously squeezed her hand back, feeling the cool warmth of her touch. Soon he felt his mind begin to clear of all the haunting shadows that had clouded it, and he thought of nothing: peaceful, blissful oblivion. Time faded away along with everything else, and Cloud wasn't sure how long they sat like this: silently staring off into the sky, hand-in-hand. A far-off part of his mind wondered idly if this pleasant calm was the result of some henceforth undisclosed power of Aeris' Cetra heritage conferred by her touch, but a more instinctual part told him that it was a power much more mundane, if no less wonderful.

At some point Cloud realized that someone was speaking. He looked behind him to find that he and Aeris were not alone, as it had seemed to him, but that in fact Red XIII and Yuffie had been there the whole time. His mind sluggishly starting up again after its vacation, he eventually processed the words to spoken to figure out that it had been Yuffie questioning their next move. He slowly stood up and released Aeris' hand, but not before giving her a small smile in gratitude. Quite taken aback at this unusual expression, she returned the gesture with a brilliant smile of her own before Cloud could manage to turn himself away. Now that his mind was no longer frantically spinning its wheels, he took a moment to calmly collect his thoughts and formulate his plans before speaking.

"Like I told Tifa, we're going on after Sephiroth. Although seeing as it seems to be impossible to corner him, I'm not holding out any hope of actually confronting him. Tifa and the other two are staying behind to investigate the town further to see if they can find out what Sephiroth was doing there. At this point, I think that their job is the important one."

"Well, then why don't we all just stay back there?" asked Yuffie.

"We can't just let Sephiroth get away," said Cloud. "Even if we can't catch him, we have to keep hot enough on the trail to at least ensure that we don't lose him altogether. Although I'm hoping that Tifa will dig up something that'll help us predict Sephiroth's plans and get a step ahead of him, we can't count on it. We have to keep going."

"Where do you think Sephiroth might be headed after he gets through these mountains?" Aeris asked.

"No idea. I don't even know what other landmarks are in the area. Like I said, Nibelheim was a quiet little village, we pretty much kept to ourselves when I was here. Didn't have much to do with other towns or anything."

"I believe I may have an idea as to what we might expect," said Red XIII, "but I would prefer to keep my ideas to myself until we see if they are indeed correct."

"Whatever," said Cloud with a shrug. "So is everyone ready to go?" The three gave their assents. "Alright, let's move out."

Cloud once again took the lead through the tunnels of Mt. Nibel, though at a much more relaxed pace than previously. They walked mostly in silence, save for not infrequent comments from Yuffie complaining about the dark, or the dank air, or stubbing her toe on a small protrusion of rock. Cloud found that it was very much like having a female teenaged Barret along, worse, probably, yet his spirits had inexplicably lifted to a degree such that he did not even feel the need to silence her. He continued to lead them through a series of dark tunnels until finding a light shining up ahead. He guided them towards this, and emerged onto a small ledge looking out over the other side of the mountain. The terrain was remarkably flat considering that it was right next to a mountain range, consisting predominately of unremarkable grassy plains as far as the eye could see. The only landmark in sight was a small grey dot of a town about thirty miles from the foot of the mountains. They were too distant to see much, but Cloud's inhumanly sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a tall needle towering over the rest of the town.

"What do you think that is?" he said rhetorically.

"A rocket," replied Red XIII, an unusual hint of excitement in his voice.

"A rocket? But it's so huge!" said Aeris.

Red XIII grinned. "That's because it's no ordinary rocket. It's a spaceship!"

"A spaceship??" said Yuffie wonderingly.

"At Cosmo Canyon we follow any scientific news very closely, and we had heard that ShinRa had started a space exploration program somewhere in this region. And there is the base of the program. Rocket Town, I believe it is called."

Cloud nodded. "I'd heard about ShinRa's space program. It was big news a few years back, but then it went really quiet all of a sudden. Never even knew it was practically in my backyard."

"Do you think that's what Sephiroth wants? That he's trying to get into space?" asked Aeris. Cloud shrugged. He couldn't see any reason that Sephiroth would want to shoot himself into outer space on an old, unused rocket, but then Sephiroth was more and more proving himself beyond prediction.

"Well, I don't see much else in the area. We might as well make for it and see what we can find out." And with that he turned back to find a way down to the ground.

It took many turns and a few dead-ends in the dark, but eventually Cloud was able to navigate through the tunnel system to a part of the mountain exterior with a gradual enough slope to successfully traverse, and the four started to descend down the mountainside. They stopped to make camp at the base of the mountain before continuing on, nearing the town by midday. As they approached, Cloud noticed how different it was from its neighbor Nibelheim. While Nibelheim was a small, clean, friendly little village, Rocket Town appeared to be a sizeable, filthy industrial town. The air was full of the sounds of clanking gears and whirring machines, not to mention of the black smog left behind when the green smoke of burnt Mako settled down in the lower atmosphere. This smog had thoroughly coated all the buildings in the town, the most prominent of which seemed to be factories and workshops, spewing up green fumes from countless smokestacks. Cloud noticed Aeris shudder beside him. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she smiled up at him before turning back to the town with large, sad eyes.

"Man, this place stinks!" said Yuffie, wrinkling her nose and again emulating Barret's peerless abilities to state and bemoan the obvious. For the air was full of the stench of burnt Mako, an acidic, thoroughly unpleasant odor. The huge metropolis of Midgar of course burned much more Mako than this small town, but over a much larger area, dispersing the ill effects, while the many concentrated factories and power plants here worked together to create a distinctly unpleasant atmosphere.

And then, of course, there was the rocket. It was indeed huge, towering about two hundred feet above the ground. However, now that they were closer, instead of a marvel of modern technology, it seemed to be a rather sad thing. Its once shining metallic skin was now stained black and brown from soot and rust, and it was tilting a noticeable degree to one side. A derelict rather than a flagship. Cloud wondered what had ever happened to the ShinRa space program to leave an apparently complete rocket out to pasture.

Well, that wasn't their concern, at any rate. Their sole purpose here was to gather information about Sephiroth. However, said information did not seem forthcoming. There was no sign of Sephiroth or the men in black, and the town seemed deceptively ill-populated despite its bustling industry. Finally, they found someone to question.

"I dunno about anyone like that. Maybe you should ask the Captain," said the man, clad in oil-stained coveralls and a baseball cap.

"The Captain?" said Cloud.

"Yeah, the Captain. He's the one in charge of the town ever since ShinRa left. He's not a real hands-on type leader or anything. In fact, most of the time he just tells us to go screw ourselves. But still, he looks after us and all. If anyone would know about what's goin' on here, it'd be him."

"And where could we find this Captain?" asked Cloud.

"His house is over that way," said the man, pointing.

"Sounds like quite the leader," Aeris muttered, and Cloud suppressed a smile as he thanked the man and walked off in the direction in which they had been pointed. They soon left the industrial sector and emerged into a less cluttered residential area. The very first house seen was also the largest, a simple two story residence. Cloud approached the front door and knocked. The door was answered unnaturally quickly by a tired-looking, though not unattractive woman in her thirties.

"Yes? Are you from ShinRa?" she said excitedly. Cloud exchanged a quick confused glance with Aeris. "Um, no, we're not," he said. "We were told that we might find the 'Captain' here?"

"Well, yes, this is his house, but he's up fixing up the rocket right now. Are you sure you're not from ShinRa?"

"Yeah, lady, we're sure!" exclaimed Yuffie.

"Of course, that was a silly question, I'm sorry. Yes, he's up at the rocket." They thanked her and started making their way toward the would-be spaceship. As they neared the towering vehicle, it became evident why the town seemed so empty at first glance. The rocket was swarming with men scrubbing and cleaning, making repairs, and performing maintenance.

"C'mon, hurry it up, you lazy bastards! I see 'em coming now!" Cloud looked up and saw a man overseeing the workers from the top of a tall staircase leading to the rocket door.

"Something tells me we found the Captain," Cloud remarked as he started to ascend the staircase. The man started to rush down to greet them, but then slowed with an expression of confusion on his face.

"Hey, you losers aren't from ShinRa! Who the hell are you?" Cloud raised an eyebrow as he regarded the man. He was a man of about forty, but who appeared even older due to his worn face and the few strands of grey starting to emerge amongst his blond hair. He was clad in a full-body blue flight suit, old and weathered but impeccably well-kept, and had a lit cigarette comfortably nestled between his scowling lips.

"I take it you're the Captain?" Cloud said.

"Damn right I'm the Captain! Now how 'bout you tell me who the hell you are, and why the hell I should care!"

"We're just passing through town and had a few questions, and we heard you were the one to talk to," replied Cloud. The Captain paused for a second as he took a drag on his cigarette.

"Alright, fine, but make it quick. Kinda busy here, in case ya didn't notice."

"Have you seen any other out-of-towners around here recently? Wearing black cloaks?"

"Nope, can't say that I have," replied the Captain. "That all?"

Red XIII stepped forward. "If I may ask, Captain, what is the story of the rocket? I was awaiting news of the launch eagerly, but never heard what occurred to prevent it."

The man stared down at Red XIII straight-faced. "Did that cat just talk to me?"

"I did," replied Red XIII coolly.

The Captain stared at Red XIII a moment more, then shook his head. "You know, any other day I'd be freaked out by that, but today, I just don't care. So you're a talking cat who wants a freaking history lesson, okay, whatever. Alright, so this town was founded right after the Fen-Shi war by the ShinRa Space Program to try and shoot a rocket into space. Back then a few people in the company still had some dreams and ideals, rather than fuckin' cash registers in their heads; gettin' into space actually meant something to some of 'em. So they brought in a bunch of engineers and mechanics from all over and gathered us all here to build a spaceship. I was ShinRa's top engineer, so they picked me to head the project and fly the rocket when it was ready. Took us awhile, but twelve years ago we threw together this hunka junk, the ShinRa No. 26. We got all set for the launch, I got strapped in and everything, but that dumbass mechanic Shera screwed everything up. The launch stopped, the engines misfired and the only place the rocket went is leanin' to the side. I figured that ShinRa would set up another launch, but that's about the time Mako energy and technology became so big, and they just abandoned the space program because it wasn't "cost effective." Fuckin' bullshit," said the Captain, removing his cigarette long enough to spit on the ground. "The ultimate engineering achievement of mankind, my lifelong dream, and they just throw it away to make more money. But they didn't actually disband the program and relocate us, they just stopped funding it. So all of us have just been waitin' here in this stinkpit, using all our factories to make other machines and such to sell just to scrape a living 'till someone in ShinRa gets some fuckin' sense in their head and comes back out here to start up the program again. Which is what's happening today!"

"They're funding the space program again?" Red XIII said excitedly.

"Damn straight!" said the Captain, enthusiasm evident in his voice as well. "Some ShinRa reps comin' out here today. Don't know why else they'd be here! Must be that new president Rufus. Young guy, still has a few dreams of his own, I guess."

"ShinRa's coming here?" Aeris whispered urgently. Cloud nodded in agreement. Even ShinRa wasn't coming exclusively to catch them, it certainly wouldn't be a good idea to stick around.

"Well, good luck with all that, but we have to be going," Cloud said to the Captain, who nodded and turned back to the rocket. The four started to walk away from the rocket and back out of town, but just as they were passing the Captain's house-

"Oh shit…" said Cloud as he spotted a series of trucks approaching, with an unmarked black car at their head. "I'm guessing that's them."

"We need to get out of here!" said Aeris.

"No time," said Cloud tightly – the convoy was approaching too quickly.

"In here! Quick!" Cloud whirled around to see the Captain's wife gesturing to them from the doorway. Cloud was suspicious at being invited to hide in the house of a ShinRa employee, but didn't have time for questions, and quickly moved into the house, followed by Aeris, Red XIII and Yuffie.

"In trouble with ShinRa?" asked the woman.

"They'd like to have a talk with one of us," said Cloud, not revealing any more about their desire for Aeris. "Why are you helping us?"

"None of us has any great love for ShinRa," said the Captain's wife, "not after they cut off funding for the rocket. Most of our income has come from manufacturing and industry of our own initiative, and they've just left us out to dry until they need us again."

Cloud nodded. He was about to speak when the door burst open. His hand automatically shot towards his sword, but he saw that it was only the Captain.

"They're coming! They're…what are you all doing here?"

"They're just dropping by," said his wife.

"So we've got guests and you're just standing there? What the hell's the matter with you, fix them some tea! Damn!" yelled the Captain as he stomped through the living room to another part of the house.

"What's his problem, anyway?" asked Yuffie distastefully.

"Well, today's a big day for him, he's nervous, that's all. This is how he always gets when he's nervous, just very loud and aggressive, more so than usual. Don't think too badly of him, it's really not his fault-"

She stopped as the Captain came charging out of the back of the house again, his blond hair now combed back and several colorful medals pinned on his chest. He stopped to glower at her furiously. "You ain't makin' any tea! What the hell did I tell you?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," said his wife meekly as she rushed to retrieve the kettle.

"Well then get to it!" he ordered. "And you all, sit your asses down and drink your damn tea!" he said before storming out of the house.

"Why the hell do you put up with him?!" Yuffie exploded barely after the door slammed shut. "I don't care what he's been through, you shouldn't have to deal with that!" Cloud silently agreed. He generally didn't pay much attention to female empowerment one way or the other, but it seemed fairly obvious that no one should have to deal with such behavior from their spouse.

"Because I owe him," she said simply, staring at the floor. "It's my fault that the launch failed, I'm the one who denied him his dream."

"But he said that it was the fault of some mechanic, Shera, I think," said Aeris.

"The woman smiled sadly. "Shera Malone, at your service. We're pretty much all mechanics and engineers here, myself included. Although I haven't had much to do with machines since the launch, he won't let me."

"So what exactly happened at the launch?" asked Red XIII as Cloud checked outside. No sign of ShinRa nearby.

"Well, it was fifteen years ago."

"Shera, we're about to launch! You finished with that tank yet?"

"Just running a few more tests on it, sir," said Shera, bent over one of the several large metallic tanks located in the metallic belly of the ShinRa No. 26 rocket.

"What'd I tell you about calling me 'sir'? It doesn't matter what title these knuckleheads gave me, I ain't no 'sir'!" said the Captain, hastily putting out his cigarette as he neared the oxygen tanks. "And enough with the damn tests! Look, Shera, bein' careful is great and all, but no matter how many times you test that thing, it ain't gonna blow! This rocket is solid, we got it right this time!"

"I know," said Shera, pausing in her work to smile up at the handsome young soldier-turned-engineer. "And most of the tests turn out fine. But there's a little irregularity that pops up from time to time, and I just want to make sure…"

"Screw the tests, and screw the irregularity, it's time to launch!" said the Captain, his blue eyes lighting up at the thought. "Now get the hell outta here, this place is gonna be hot as the sun when the engines kick in, and I don't want your pretty little face getting burned to a crisp down here. Rather have you waiting for me back here on the ground, ya hear?"

"W…what do you mean?" Shera asked, but the Captain had already turned to return to the cockpit. She felt her face heating as she turned back to the oxygen tank. Just a few more tests…

"Alright, Captain Highwind, we're looking over the specs, and everything seems nominal. Looks like you might get into space after all."

"Yeah, who would'a thought, eh?" said the Captain.

"This is unbelievable, that it's actually happening!" said a more excited man over the radio. "Captain, our hopes and dreams fly with you!"  
"Yeah, yeah," said the Captain offhandedly, though he was in truth no less excited. He had already been one of the few to achieve mankind's dreams of flight, and now here he was, after countless failed attempts, finally about to be the first man in space on the rocket of his own construction! This was no doubt the finest moment in his life.

"Alright, engines are primed, power is activated, oxygen flowing, all systems go! All that's left is countdown!"

"Well then what the hell are we waiting for? Get to it!" said the Captain, strapping himself in to his pilot's seat amidst the various control panels in the small cockpit of the huge rocket.

"Wait, Captain, we have a problem!"  
The Captain cursed violently. "What the hell is it?"  
"One of the mechanics is still aboard, near the engines of the rocket There's no

way she'll survive down there!"

"Son of a…who is this idiot?" the Captain asked as he activated the rocket's built

in radio, though he had a sinking feeling he already knew.

"Captain, is that you?" came the pretty mechanic's voice over the radio.

"Dammit, Shera, we're launching! Get the hell outta there, now!"

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, I'll get right out."

"It's too late!" said the first man over the radio. "The doors are sealed, the engines are firing up, there's no way to leave the rocket!"

"What? Fuck that, get her out!"

"Captain, it's too late! There's nothing we can do! Those engines are firing up as we speak, and there's no way to stop them without aborting the whole launch."

The Captain cursed again. He knew that aborting the launch at this point was a last-ditch option. The engines and other systems would shut down prematurely, resulting in who-knew-what damage and require months of repair and recalibration before they were ready again, assuming that they weren't damaged beyond repair and needed to be replaced altogether.

"Capt…Cid…just go ahead with the launch! Forget about me, it's my own fault for staying down here too long! This is your dream, don't forget that!" said Shera's voice.

"But…dammit, Shera, do you wanna make me a murderer?" the Captain whispered.

"Captain, countdown commencing! Thirty seconds to launch. Twenty-nine…twenty-eight…twenty-seven…"

"He hit the emergency abort button, canceling the launch to save my life. Soon afterwards, ShinRa discovered the energy potential of Mako, and cut back our funding, and he never got to go into space. He's always blamed me for it, and rightly so."

"And he married you anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"Married? No, no, we're not married…" said Shera, looking away. "He was such a mess after funding got cancelled, I came over to take care of him, it was the least I could do. And then I just…never left. He sacrificed his dream to save my life, and so I live my life for him…"

The kettle started to whistle, startling Shera out of a reverie, and she rushed to retrieve it and pour several cups of tea. The four visitors were silent, not entirely sure how to respond to such a story. But they were saved the trouble by a knock at the door. Cloud cursed internally: a knock at the door when ShinRa was visiting was bad news, but they had no time to escape. He motioned for everyone to duck down behind their chairs as much as possible, while Cloud himself surreptitiously turned so he could barely see the door out of the corner of his eye without exposing too much of himself from behind the sofa on which he sat. Shera opened the door to reveal a familiar face: the pudgy balding man from the ShinRa board room. With him was a straight-faced tall man clad in an unremarkable green jumpsuit.

"Ah, Shera, how do you do?" he said jovially, stepping inside the house without being invited.

"Mr. Palmer, how wonderful to see you again," said Shera courteously. "I'm afraid the Captain isn't in at the moment, I believe he's waiting for you out at—"

"Oh, I already spoke with him," said Palmer. "He's currently speaking with one of our representatives. I was…ooh, tea! Can I have some, with some sugar and honey and…no, no, better wait. I was wondering if I could perhaps take a peek at Cid's airplane?"

"The Tiny Bronco?" said Shera. "Well, it's out back, but I don't think he'd like…"

"Oh, I already talked to him, it's alright," said Palmer with a dismissive wave of the hand. "I'm just interested to see how it's holding up after all these years."

"Well, sure, I guess, right this way," said Shera, determinedly not looking in the direction of Cloud and the others. Palmer and his silent colleague followed her right out of the room, seeming completely unaware that four enemies of ShinRa were mere feet away.

Cloud shot up as soon as he heard the back door close. "Let's get the hell ou—"

"Not leaving so soon?" Cloud turned slowly around to see standing in the door none other than Elena the Turk, Uzi submachine gun leveled right at his chest.

"Now I don't want to have to shoot up this nice lady's house, so why don't you just come quietly?"

"So this is all just a set-up to get us?" Cloud said, stalling for time as he wracked his brain for a plan.

"Oh, don't flatter yourselves," said Elena sweetly. "No, we have other interests here in Rocket Town in addition to you."

"But how'd you know that we would be here at all?" said Cloud.

Elena opened her mouth but then caught herself and wagged her finger. "Ah ah, not this time. I've learned to keep quiet when I have to. Now would you just—"

"Yah!" cried Yuffie suddenly, leaping up and hurling her shuriken. Elena shrieked and ducked back out of the door as the huge projectile sliced right through the doorframe where her head had been a split second earlier before boomeranging back to Yuffie's hand.

"Let's go!" said Cloud as he leapt forward and out the door – only to be faced with a regiment of ShinRa soldiers. Time seemed to stand still as Cloud stared down the barrels of fifty rifles. And then he was leaping backwards, bullets flying everywhere.

"What the hell?" said the Captain, turning away from the suited ShinRa representative as the sound of rifles rang out through the air. "What's goin' on?"

"Well, Mr. Highwind, we heard that there may be some enemies of state taking shelter in this town, and so we sent—"

"Shit, they're firing at my damn house!" exclaimed the Captain as he rushed away from the ShinRa diplomatic party and made for his house, now under siege by a battalion of blue-clad ShinRa troops. He was about to confront the colonel of the troops, signified by an orange pauldron over his blue uniform, but was distracted by a woman's cry for help issuing from his fenced-in backyard. Muttering a curse, he turned away and ran towards the back of the house and, tensing his leg muscles, leapt clear over the five-foot picket fence and landed in the yard. He looked up to see Palmer standing and grinning as he restrained Shera, watching as a man in a green jumpsuit fired up the engine of the Captain's custom-built airplane, the Tiny Bronco. Growling, Captain Highwind charged forward, leapt up to the cockpit, and grabbed the man, throwing him down to the ground. The would-be thief fell and rolled, quickly regaining his feet as the Captain jumped down from the plane, and the two men faced each other.

The thief grinned. The Captain of the rocket and town had to be getting towards fifty, he was in no shape to be fighting a firm, fit man in his prime. He cracked his knuckles before winding back a punch, only to catch a fist in his face. He staggered back, not expecting the nearly middle-aged Captain to move anywhere near that fast. He launched a low blow at his opponent's chest, but the Captain slapped it down with his left hand, countering with a prompt right hook that nearly spun the younger man completely around. The thief reeled, trying to regain his bearings, but the Captain bore in relentlessly, pummeling him with a flurry of surprisingly powerful blows to the face before striking low with a punch to the gut that doubled the man over, then delivering a mighty uppercut which threw his head back and clear off his feet. Prone on the ground, the thief managed to open his blackening eyes to see the Captain looming over him.

"Don't _ever_ touch my plane," was all he heard before a boot came smashing down on his face and everything went dark.

Cloud grimaced as he took rounds in the side and leg before dodging back indoors, behind the house walls. He heard Aeris screaming as every single window on the front side of the house burst into shards and bullets flew over their heads.

"We need another exit!" Cloud yelled over the cacophony. After a stunned moment, Aeris nodded and summoned her staff. She closed her eyes as she raised her hands, and suddenly a large fireball shot forth, blowing a gaping hole into the side of the house. That was more than her typical Fire spell, Cloud remarked to himself. She must have learned to use the more powerful Fira, but now was scarcely the time to reflect on that. He motioned for the others to go ahead as he rose to a crouch and made for the newly created exit, careful to keep his head below the windows through which bullets were still pouring, and praying that the house's walls were enough to keep the bullets at bay for now. He was a mere foot away when the number of guns firing decreased noticeably. Cloud's senses instantly went on alert at this change, and he soon heard a distinctive clatter on the floor behind him, turning to find himself staring at no less than three active hand grenades.

"Cloud!" Aeris cried as a series of explosions rocked the house from the inside, and started to run back in.

"Not now!" said Red XIII, swiftly blocking her way. "These soldiers must be dealt with!" Aeris nodded and started to walk around the corner of the house to the front path, where the soldiers were still pouring fire into the house. Red XIII stared in astonishment. Was she planning to just walk right in front of them? And that's exactly what she did, calmly striding into view of the battalion. Red XIII ran out to support her, suicidal though it may be, as the soldiers noticed her and turned their guns to her.

"Freeze!" shouted out one of them with an orange pauldron on his shoulder, but she just kept calmly striding forward, jaw set firmly. Guns rose, muzzles flashed, Aeris raised her hand, and the bullets rushing for her simply stopped. She raised the staff in her other hand, and another fireball launched forward, exploding into several of the soldiers and sending the rest scattering.

"Yeah!" shouted Yuffie as she leapt forward at the now disorganized enemy, not even bothering to throw her shuriken, instead using it as a melee weapon as she wove through the enemy ranks like greased lightning, ducking, dodging, and slashing with gleeful abandon. Red XIII was about to join the fray when he realized that something wasn't right. He suddenly turned around to find Elena taking aim with her Uzi.

"Oh, damn. Thought I could pay you back for last time in the caves," she said. "Guess I'll just have to do it face-to-face." Red XIII just growled before leaping forward.

"What the hell is goin' on around here?" demanded the Captain.

"They wanted to steal the Tiny Bronco!" exclaimed Shera fearfully.

"No shit, Shera, they never could build a decent plane of their own! But why now?"

"Something about finding a Temple of Ancients or something, I don't know what they were talking about!"

"The hell? And what about all the shooting out front?"

"I-I don't know! Those visitors said that ShinRa was looking for them…"

The Captain swore. He should've known better than to expect good things from ShinRa after all these years. The emissary at the rocket had just been a distraction; they had just come to steal his only invention they hadn't already taken, and to kill a few dissenters while they were at it. Well no way he was going to let them have their way.

"Yuffie, help?" cried Aeris desperately as she tried to fend off several soldiers with her staff. The two women's initial onslaught had taken the soldiers off guard, but they had regained the initiative through sheer force of numbers. At this close range they at least couldn't use their rifles, but neither could she use her magic, and she was totally untrained in melee combat. She managed to catch one of the soldiers with a light blow to the side of the head, but his comrade immediately came in with a punch to her jaw that sent her flying to the ground. The soldier quickly stepped forward and raised his rifle to finish the job, only to fall with a shuriken buried in his back. As she bent down to retrieve her weapon, Yuffie delivered a high horse kick to the soldier Aeris had stunned, knocking him off his feet. Not bothering to stand upright, Yuffie performed a quick cartwheel to avoid a barrage of bullets, and Aeris fired a Fira spell at the shooters to cover her, downing some of them and buying her time to regain her footing. The two of them were still alive, but so were thirty or so of the enemy. This didn't look good.

Red XIII leapt to the side to avoid a burst of fire from Elena's Uzi, then leapt up to the side of the Captain's house and quickly propelled himself off towards her. Not expecting this maneuver, Elena barely had time to roll to the side as Red XIII landed claws first where she had just been. Red XIII immediately slashed out even as he landed, scoring a trio of deep gashes along the Turk's stomach. She cried out in pain as she fell to her back, but as Red XIII leapt forward to finish the job, she raised her arm and generated a translucent blue shield. The Barrier spell was enough to block Red XIII's hasty attack long enough for the Turk to leap backwards, firing her Uzi as she flew through the air. Most of the ill-aimed shots went wild, but two caught Red XIII in the leg and shoulder, sending him down to the ground. He was instantly back up on all fours, but unsteadily. Elena quickly climbed to her feet, this time firing her Uzi in a wide spread to prevent Red XIII from just jumping to the side. Noticing this just in time, Red XIII jumped high, somersaulting agilely in the air, but landed hard and collapsed with a grunt on his injured leg. Not bothering to reload, Elena tossed aside the submachine gun, drew a 9mm sidearm and started firing. Her aim was again wild, and the small caliber bullets failed to score a lethal hit, but Red XIII cried out as they ripped through his legs and torso, disabling him. Elena kept frantically pulling the trigger until all that resulted were empty clicks, then started casually walking towards her downed foe as she ejected the spent clip.

"Nice try, kitty. Or should I say, Nanaki?" she said.

"H…how?" Red XIII managed.

"Oh, there's a lot we know about you now. About all of you," said Elena confidently. "But then, that's really none of your concern at the moment. All that should concern you is this little gun, and what's in it," she said, loading a fresh clip into the weapon and cocking it.

Without a second thought Captain Highwind leapt into the Tiny Bronco, already revved up by the would-be thief, started forward at full speed, and lifted off into the sky. Once gaining enough altitude he banked in a sharp left turn, and looked down at the ground in front of his house. It looked like the strangers were fighting back, and giving the soldiers a run for their money, but they were heavily outgunned and outnumbered. The Captain grinned. Not for long.

Elena slowly started to raise her weapon to Red XIII's face, savoring every moment of it. However, she was distracted from her reveling when the sounds of battle in front of the house suddenly ceased, replaced instead by screams of terror and confusion. "What the…" she muttered, hurrying around the house to survey the situation, only to gape in astonishment at the scene before her.

Her men were running amok in total confusion, completely forgetting the teenager they were supposed to take down and the Ancient they were supposed to capture. It didn't take long to spot the source of this chaos. It was hard to miss the Captain circling the area in his pink airplane, the Tiny Bronco. The plane suddenly swooped down from the sky like a huge bird of prey, aiming right for a group of fleeing soldiers. The soldiers didn't make it far before being caught by the plane's propellers, their heads quickly transformed into red mist, as the Captain pulled the nose up, laughing maniacally. "Take that, motherfuckers!!!" Elena gulped. She didn't have the firepower to take down the plane herself, and with the soldiers running for cover, there was no one to distract the Ancient and teenager, who were beginning to recover themselves. It was time to pull out. With any luck, she could rally the idiot soldiers to actually attack the plane and take it down.

"Where did that come from?" asked Aeris, more than a little dazed from the battle and its sudden cessation. "I didn't even…oh…my…" she trailed off as she observed the headless remains of the soldiers unlucky enough to stand in front of the airplane. "This is horrible…"

"Hey, it saved our butts! That's good enough for me!" replied Yuffie, rising to her feet and slinging her shuriken over her back once more.

"Wait…he's coming back!" cried Aeris, pointing to the sky. Indeed, the airplane was sinking to the ground again, coming right for them.

"Run!" said Yuffie, but instead of nosediving, the plane rose slightly as it came towards the ground to make a slightly uneven, but sounds landing. The plane had barely come to a stop when the Captain leapt from the cockpit and started jogging towards the two women. "You girls alright?" he said.

"Um, yes, I think so," said Aeris. "Thank you…"

The Captain waved his hand impatiently. "No time for that! I may have scared 'em, but they'll be back, and they'll be pissed. This place ain't safe for any of us."

"But we'll never outrun them, they have cars!" said Aeris.

"Yeah, they do. That's why you're not runnin', you're flyin'!" said the Captain, gesturing to his plane before drawing a cigarette from his emergency stash strapped onto his flight goggles.

"Will that thing fit all of us?" asked Yuffie skeptically.

"Hey, I'll worry about the plane, you worry about getting your pals together," he said as he drew out a lighter and raised it to his cigarette. "As I recall, there were two more of you."

Aeris' face suddenly drained as she remembered Cloud and the hand grenades. He had never reappeared…"Yuffie, go check on Red XIII, I'll get Cloud." The younger girl nodded and ran off towards the side of the house as Aeris ran in the still open front door. She turned to her right and saw Cloud lying right where they had left him, blood splattered all over the walls. "No…"

She ran over to him and lifted his head up. He didn't move. "Cloud, please, don't go. We all still need you, there's still so much for you left here. Don't leave me here alone…"

"…" She wasn't sure, but Aeris thought she heard some sort of sound escape from Cloud's mouth. His eyelids twitched.

"Yes!" she cried joyfully. His lips moved slightly, but made no sound. Aeris quickly started rifling through her bag until she found one of the bottles he had told her about: a Phoenix Down, a concoction of various stimulants, coagulants, and healing substances. She raised it to his lips and poured it gently into his mouth. After a few agonizing moments of silence he began to cough faintly, and his eyes blinked rapidly before opening widely as the drug cocktail hit his system. He turned his watering eyes around the room before looking up at her. "Aeris…"

"Shh…" Aeris said, casting a quick Cure spell on him. Many of the cuts and lacerations covering his body sealed up, some of the shrapnel imbedded in his flesh was neutralized, and the flow of blood decreased. He was far from healed, but he would live. "Cloud, we have to get out of here. Can you walk?"

"Yeah," said Cloud. He accepted her hand as she helped him to his feet, only to promptly collapse to the floor again.

"Okay, c'mon," said Aeris as she draped his arm over her shoulder and slowly rose to her feet. She could feel her knees and back shake under the strain, but she slowly, slowly made her way towards the door.

"Hey, Aeris, c'mon! We gotta…oh," said Yuffie, standing next to a limping, but upright Red XIII. Yuffie rushed to Aeris' side and grabbed Cloud's other arm, and between the two of them made much better time getting to the waiting Captain and Red XIII standing by the plane.

"Alright, let's load up!" said the Captain. Aeris looked up at the plane somewhat skeptically: the vehicle had only one seat. "But…"

"No buts! Get on!" The Captain helped Aeris and Yuffie move the injured males up to lie on the wings before helping them up themselves. "Alright, everyone hold on to the wings, and your asses while you're at it!" He leapt up to the cockpit with one surprisingly strong bound and fired up the engine.

"Will this machine even get in the air with all of us?" asked Red XIII weakly.

"I told you, let me worry about the Bronco!" shouted the Captain. "I gave this girl the most powerful engine she could hold without tearing herself to shreds, she's got the power to spare! Now hold the hell on!"

"Here they come!" said Yuffie, pointing to the surviving blue suited troopers, now reorganized and advancing quickly towards the plane.

"C'mon baby, spin those blades," said the Captain, patting the controls as the propellers sped up.

"Cid!" The Captain turned to his left to see Shera running out from inside the house. "Cid, where are you…"

"Shera, get the hell outta here!" the Captain shouted over the roar of the plane's propellers. "Find someone to stay with or something and lay low!"

"But Cid, when will you—"

"No time, gotta fly!" shouted the Captain as the plane started to inch forward. A few early gunshots rang out into the air as the troops approached. The Captain cursed and willed the plane to move faster, but despite his boasting, it was not used to more than one passenger, much less five. It rumbled bumpily down the open dirt road, straight for a small workshop at the end of the path. "C'mon, baby, c'mon," the Captain said coaxingly, waiting for the Tiny Bronco to gather enough speed. The gunshots grew more numerous as the soldiers grew nearer, and the workshop ahead kept growing through the windshield. "Shit, shit, shit!" Captain Highwind muttered, cigarette clenched tightly in his teeth. Soon there was no more time: the building was only twenty yards or so away. He was still going slower than he had ever done at a takeoff, but there was no choice. He pulled up hard on the stick, and the Tiny Bronco shuddered and groaned in protest, but the nose rose and the wheels left the ground. The plane rocked violently as the wheels scraped against the roof of the building, but cleared it, and they were free.

"Yahoo! Eat that, you fucking ShinRa bastards!" yelled the Captain, pumping a fist into the air as he guided the plane over the industrial sector and away from the town.

Aeris gripped the plane's wing with all her might as she looked down, simultaneously terrified and exhilarated to see her planet racing by beneath her from such a new perspective. It was only after about ten minutes of this that she fully contemplated her current situation: the four of them were clinging for dear life to the flying machine belonging to a more or less complete stranger, flying to who knew where.

"Um, where are we going, um….Captain…?"

"Forget that Captain shit! Never liked freakin' titles anyway," said the Captain, scarf flapping wildly in the wind as the smoke from his still-lit cigarette trailed behind him. "The name's Cid Highwind, and we're heading for that horizon!"

Whew. That was a fun one. Realized that I forgot to do the customary commentary for the last chapter, but then, there wasn't a whole lot to be said about it. I wasn't terribly happy with it, it felt like just a lot of shallow dialogue present for no reason other than to advance the plotline. This chapter, on the other hand, had it all: character development, exposition, action, etc., and I think it went fairly well. Plus it introduced one of my favorite characters of the game, everybody's favorite high-jumping, chain-smoking, compulsively-cursing master of machinery, Cid! I wonder if this is the Japanese conception of all Americans, because of all the characters in the game, Cid just screams apple pie and baseball, even more so than Barret. Anyway, so this chapter turned out to be really long and eventful. I guess the big change was the big battle scene at the end. I had two main reasons for including that. One was that I skipped the Turks encounter at Gongaga, and wanted to put them in somewhere else. The second is that, well, there hadn't been a good fight scene since the Jenova fight, and I wanted to prove that the characters aren't carrying those big weapons around just for show. And for the record, I wasn't trying to do a _Matrix_ homage with the Aeris stopping the bullets thing; that was just my conception of Seal Evil. Incidentally, I realized after I wrote most of the battle that Cloud's spent most of the past two fights on his back. Didn't plan it out that way: like most of my inventions, it just happened. I'll have to remedy that later. Anyway, stay tuned for the next exciting episode!


	37. Nightmare Unending

Nightmares Unending

"Yo, you find out anything?"

Tifa shook her head to Barret's query. She had questioned citizens all over Nibelheim, careful to avoid mention of the incident five years ago that seemed to without fail set them off in a rage, but no one seemed to have any information about Sephiroth or the men in black. "You?"

"Nah, nothin.' Been all over the upper floor of that mansion, didn' find a thing, an' the cat's searchin' the downstairs."

Tifa nodded. She had had a feeling that if anything was to be found in the house, it would be in the basement, where they had found Sephiroth and where it had all began. "Any word from Cait Sith?"

"Nope. Figure we should go down an' check on him?"

Tifa shrugged helplessly. "Might as well," she said as they started back from the town square back to the mansion. She was more depressed than she had been in recent memory. She was back in her hometown, a place with so many happy memories for her, and yet all she could focus on was the horror that had occurred here. Not only that, but the buildings and people were all new, all strangers, and no one remembered her or any of her friends or family. It was as if none of it had ever happened, that her hometown as if everything she remembered was all false, and that all that remained was the sadness and horror of that last fateful day.

And in the midst of all this, Cloud had abandoned her. Why, why now? Ever since the beginning they had all stuck together, no many how many new members joined their cause, they had all traveled together, fought together, and lived together. But now he was on his way over Mt. Nibel to parts unknown, and she was stuck here in this living mockery of her past. She looked back in the direction of the well, the one remnant of the town she remembered, the well where she and Cloud had made their promise. That if she were ever in trouble that he would come rescue her. That he would be her hero. She smiled wistfully at the memory. What had made her ask that of him, anyway? One would have thought that she was a silly little girl with a crush. But that hadn't been the case; she and Cloud had been close friends their whole lives, but never with any romantic overtones.

Or had there been? She couldn't put her finger on it, but she seemed to remember a time when they hadn't been such friends, when…no, that was pointless to think about. It was all long ago, another world, another lifetime, and now he had left her here to continue onward with Red XIII, Yuffie, and…Aeris.

"Yo, Tifa!"

"What?!" she snapped as Barret's voice broke into her thoughts.

He raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, girl, what's up with you?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, I'm sorry."

"Nah, c'mon Tifa, you been moodier than spiky-ass ever since we rolled into town. What is it, jus' that it's all different than you remember?"

She shook her head. There was that, but there was so much more. She wished desperately that she could tell Barret, could tell anyone what she was thinking and feeling, but she knew that no one could ever understand. She herself couldn't understand it all. Her mind and heart had to remain locked up tight.

"No, it's alright. What were you saying?"

Barret stared at her a moment longer, but then shrugged. "I was jes' askin' what you think's takin' that cat so long. I mean, he had the least to search of all of us, but we're finished up an' he's still down there."

"No idea," said Tifa, feeling no curiosity whatsoever about the matter. Barret seemed to take the hint, and remained uncharacteristically silent as they entered the mansion and made their way down to the basement. They saw Cait Sith and Mog standing straight ahead of down the dark corridor, but oddly so. They were both slumped with heads down, but stranger than this was that they seemed inhumanly, or whatever the correct term would be, still. Neither of the pair was moving, turning to face them, or apparently even breathing.

"'Ey, cat!" called Barret. Cait Sith gave no response whatsoever. "Yo, cat, I'm talkin' to you!" continued Barret, starting to make his way down the corridor. Suddenly the animal pair started, and Mog quickly and clumsily turned around as Cait Sith spoke.

"Hey, chief, what's happening?"

"Why didn' you answer?" said Barret. "And why you been down here so long?"

Cait Sith squirmed slightly. "Well, um…I kinda fell asleep."

"Asleep? Dammit, you can sleep later, now we got work to do!"

"Oh, I did the work!" said Cait Sith quickly. "Looked everywhere in here, especially the library, didn't find a single clue or anything! The only place I didn't look was right here!" he said, pointing along with his moogle to a old metal door that blended into the wall so well that Tifa hadn't even noticed its presence. "It's locked up tight and rusted over to boot, there's no way to get it open!"

Barret gave Cait Sith an "are you kidding?" stare before stepping back. He raised a massive foot and with one mighty kick the door went flying off its hinges onto the floor, kicking up an explosion of dust and a resounding clatter that echoed through the dank air.

"Oh. Well, I didn't think of that," said the cat.

"Whatever, man," Barret said as he stepped into the room, Tifa following wordlessly. As the rusted door had suggested, the room hadn't seen use for a long, long time. Dust covered the floor like a plush carpet and adorned everything in the room, including the air, and Tifa suffered a quick series of sneezes before she was able to look around. The room was rather small, almost more of a cell or closet, and was filled with what appeared to be old discarded machines and devices, the nature of which eluded Tifa. The only exception was a plain black coffin, sitting squarely in the middle of the room and seeming quite out of place amongst the mechanical equipment.

"…the hell?" muttered Barret, obviously sharing Tifa's confusion. She had just tentatively stepped forward to examine the coffin more closely when something thoroughly unexpected happened. The coffin's lid slowly creaked open, and a figure sat up, staring her right in the eyes.

"Who are you?"

Tifa jumped back, mouth moving silently in shock as she stared at the figure. It was hard to make out, especially in the dim light of the basement, but it appeared to be clad in a mishmash of red and black rags, covering all of it save for the eyes, which bore into her with a cold, dark gaze. Its hair was long, black, and rather unkempt, which was understandable given its dwelling. Very little more about it was readily apparent, but it continued to stare at her and demand an answer.

"I…we…who are you?" Tifa managed.

"You intruded on me, I demand that you identify yourselves." The voice was that of a man, though very gravelly and flat, completely devoid of any intonation or human emotion.

"I…I'm sorry, we were just looking around. Looking for information."

"And what manner of information did you expect to find here, amongst the damned and forgotten?"

"The…damned?" said Tifa fearfully. The man continued staring at her in silence before speaking again.

"Leave. This house is the beginning of your nightmare."

"You don't know how right you are," Tifa said, her mind flitting back to five years ago: meeting Cloud and Sephiroth outside the mansion, Cloud's stories of encountering the increasingly insane Sephiroth here in this very basement. This remark finally brought an expression to the man's face, albeit only an infinitesimal twitch of an eyebrow that could just as easily have been a trick of the light.

"What do you mean?"

"Sephiroth," Tifa said simply.

"Sephiroth," the man repeated, an unreadable tone in his raspy voice. "You know of Sephiroth?"

"Do you?" Cait Sith broke in. The man spared the talking cat a quick glance before looking back to Tifa. After a moment's deliberation she nodded and delivered a condensed version of the events which transpired in the very town five years ago, and their mission now. After she was finished the man nodded.

"How old is Sephiroth now?"

Tifa was taken aback at this rather odd question. "Well…I think he was about thirty when I met him, so I guess he's about thirty-five now."

"Thirty-five years…and what did you say was his motive?"

"We don't really know," said Tifa. "I've heard about killing people, about finding the Ancient's Promised Land, I don't know. All I know is that it wouldn't be good for us."

"I see," the man said after a moment.

"Now what do you know about Sephiroth?" Tifa said quickly.

The man shook his head slowly. "I cannot say."

"'Ey, man, that ain't right!" said Barret. "Ya can't jes' make us tell you all that an' then cop out!"

But the man just shook his head again. "Listening to your stories has added yet another sin upon my tarnished soul. I must continue my atonement."

"Atonement?" said Tifa.

"Atonement for my weakness, for my sins," said the man. "I failed one that I loved, and I now see that the consequences of my weakness are even graver than I realized. My sleep must continue even longer after hearing your tale."

"Sleep? Man, what kinda atonement are you doin' in your sleep?" asked Barret.

The man turned his cold gaze to Barret, and Tifa noticed even the enormous terrorist shrink back a bit. "It is not the sleep that is the atonement," said the man, "it is the nightmares."

"What do you mean?" said Tifa, her voice quite high.

The man was silent for a moment, his hard eyes staring off into space before speaking. "A never-ending sequences of nightmares, all twisted, inhuman, fiendish visions. Mocking me, ceaselessly reminding me of my weakness and the consequences it has forced upon others, upon the one most dear to me. Occasionally a dream that is almost happy will snake its way amongst the terror, only to turn foul and taunt me with the realization that what I see will never and can never be."

Silence greeted this explanation, Barret as speechless as the others. "Now leave me," said the man, lying back down in his coffin.

"W-wait!" said Tifa. The man froze stock still in his descent, slowly turning his head to face her from his nearly prone position. "Can you at least tell us your name?" She wasn't sure why she asked him to wait, why she asked his name. She just knew that she couldn't let this man, terrifying though he may be, return to his endless torment without knowing something about him, without him leaving some mark in her memory.

The man stared at her in silence, seeming to analyze her, reading her through and through.

"Vincent," he said at last. "Now go."

"Okay, that guy was a bit creepy," said Cait Sith. Barret muttered something about a damn understatement. Tifa was silent, uncertain of what to think about him.

"Well, whatever that guy was, we didn't find out anything about Sephiroth. I don't think there's much left for us in this town," said Cait Sith.

"He seemed to know something, though," said Tifa. "Something about Sephiroth, he just wouldn't tell us."

"You wanna go back in there again an' chat with him about it?" said Barret. "Let's get the hell outta here, I need some damn sunlight!"

"Phew, that is better!" said Cait Sith as the trio plus Mog emerged from the front door of the ShinRa mansion. "So now what?"

"I guess we call the merc and tell him that this was a bust," said Barret, pulling out the PHS radio. "Yo, spiky ass!" There was no response from the other end. "'Ey, man, c'mon! Pick up!" Still no answer. Tifa took the radio from Barret. "Cloud? Cloud, are you there?" Nothing.

"Could he be out of range?" asked Cait Sith.

"Nah, these things go for miles an' miles," said Barret. "There's no way they could've walked outta range already."

"I hope nothing's happened to him," said Tifa.

"Don' worry about it, Tifa! Spiky ass can take care of himself, he's fine. Must just be busy or somethin'." But Tifa didn't buy it. "So…what do we do now?" asked Barret. "We don' know where to go ta meet up with the rest of 'em, seems like we're kinda stuck in this town." Tifa's heart plummeted even further at this prospect: she didn't know how much more she could take of the alien Nibelheim.

"Not necessarily," said Cait Sith. "I was thinking, while I was down there lookin' around."

"Ya mean when you weren't sleepin'," said Barret.

"Yeah, yeah. But listen up guys, when we saw Sephiroth, he said something about the Temple of the Ancients, right?"

"Huh? What're you talkin' about?" said Barret.

"No, I think I remember," said Tifa. "He said that Aeris should go visit the Temple of Ancients."

"Right!" said Cait Sith. "Well, I don't know anything about it, but I seem to remember Dio mentioning something about it back when I worked at the Gold Saucer. I think he said that he even had some artifact from it in his personal museum. Maybe we could find out something?"

"What good would that do us?" said Barret. "All we know is that Sephiroth wanted to get Aeris to go there! That don' mean anythin' for us."  
"No, I agree with Cait Sith," said Tifa. "It's the only lead we have, we might as well look into it instead of just sitting around here and waiting for Cloud to pick up the damn radio." She caught Barret's sideways glance at her, but ignored it.

"Alright then! So, back to the Gold Saucer?" asked Cait Sith.

"Man, I dunno. It seems like a long shot, and the Gold Saucer's a long ways back," said Barret. "I say we hang out here for awhile, see if we can get in touch with that dumbass merc, before we start drivin' way back across the whole damn continent."

Tifa fumed at this, but had to admit that Barret had a point. "One night," she said. "Then we leave." She could tell that Barret still was skeptical at this, but he apparently sensed that she was not to be crossed right now, and stayed silent. Without another word she started off towards the town inn.

Tifa turned over in her bed for the umpteenth time that night, lying flat on her back and staring at the bare ceiling as wind rattled the windowpanes outside. She was alone: Cait Sith had volunteered to stay with the buggy again, and though Barret had suggested that they could bunk side by side like they had done countless times back in the AVALANCHE hideout to save money, Tifa had firmly refused, and Barret had again shown the uncommon tact and good sense not to press the issue. Though she knew Barret meant well, and that their dwindling treasury was a concern, she did not want any company at the moment. She was troubled, not looking forward to the journey tomorrow, but not knowing what else they could do. Barret was right, she knew, they shouldn't be leaving. Here they were, about to embark on a journey of several hundred miles across the continent and away from the rest of their party, all because someone _might_ know _something_about a single remark Sephiroth had made to a single member of their team who currently wasn't even with them. To say their plan was ill-conceived would be too kind. Yet more than this, she knew she had to get out of here and do something. She couldn't take much more of this town and all the memories it stirred in her, and after Cloud's sudden departure and subsequent refusal to contact them, she lacked the patience to sit idly by and wait to hear from him. She had to leave this place behind her and do something, anything.

She abruptly rose from bed and started to get dressed. As little as she wanted to see any more of Nibelheim, she was too restless to remain in the room any longer. She pulled on her T-shirt, shorts, and shoes, donned a brown fur-lined coat from her bag to offset the chilled mountain air that was at least the same as in her memory, and left the inn. She started walking through the familiar streets with their unfamiliar houses, not seeing any of it, preoccupied with her thoughts. It wasn't long before she ended up in front of the looming ShinRa mansion, the silver light of the full moon doing little to dispel the darkness of the building's black façade. She scowled, and was about to turn away when she noticed a hint of motion in the corner of her eye. She looked up, and to her astonishment saw silhouetted against the black and blue night sky, a man perched like a bat on the very roof of the manor, a long cape flapping in the wind behind him along with his hair. There was only one person she could imagine this would be.

"Vincent?" she called up uncertainly.

The figure slowly turned its head down to observe her before turning its gaze back up to the moon. "You are still here."

"We're leaving tomorrow," said Tifa. "We have a lead that we're tracking down. A pretty weak lead, but…well, it's something to do." There was no reply. "I thought you'd be sleeping again," said Tifa.

Again there was a few moments silence before a reply came. "I could not."

"Yeah, me either," said Tifa.

"Your friend's comment stayed with me."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" asked Tifa.

"The man who was with you asked what atonement I could do in my sleep."

"Oh, don't pay any attention to Barret, he doesn't mean half the things he says."

"I believe it. Nevertheless, he had a point," said Vincent, eyes never leaving the horizon. "While my torment was well-deserved and appropriate, it has done nothing to reverse the evils I have loosed upon the world, evils more grievous than I had ever imagined. I have realized that the true path to atonement lies not merely through punishment, but also through responsibility. I must venture out and stop Sephiroth and Hojo."

"Hojo? The ShinRa scientist? What does he have to do with it?" asked Tifa.

"Hojo has everything to do with it," said Vincent, a trace of actual emotion in his voice for once: anger. "Gast as well, but mostly Hojo." He finally looked down at her. "Are you implying that Sephiroth operates independently of Hojo?"

"Of course, why wouldn't he?" asked Tifa, now genuinely confused. "Does Sephiroth even know Hojo?" No reply. "Please, we need to know everything we can about Sephiroth! How is Hojo involved?"

"That is a tale I cannot repeat. Not now, and, I feel, not ever," said Vincent. "But what I will offer is my assistance."

"I'm sorry?"

"I would like to accompany you, if I may," said Vincent. "As I said, I cannot rest until I have seen Sephiroth and Hojo's plans foiled. It seems that you have the same goal, even if you do not know the extent of Sephiroth's story. I therefore offer you my services."

Tifa was taken aback at this unexpected offer, and contemplated for a moment. Though she felt a little guilty about considering a new ally without Cloud's permission, especially one as undeniably sketchy as this man clad in rags and crouching on a rooftop, they surely they needed all the help they could get. "Well…thanks. I think I'll need to talk it over with my friends. We'll come find you here before we leave." Vincent nodded before looking away once more. Evidently the conversation was over.

"Are you kiddin' me? You want that freak show to come with us?" asked Barret after she had told him and Cait Sith about her encounter the next morning. "Hell, we'd be lucky if he didn't suck our blood or somethin' when we're sleepin'!"

"I know, he's really weird. He scares me too," said Tifa. "But he seems to know a lot about Sephiroth, and he doesn't want to just out and tell us. But maybe if he were actually working with us, we could get something out of him. After all, he knows—"

"--claims to know," Cait Sith interjected.

"—more about Sephiroth than the rest of us put together. And I don't think he's lying," she added to Cait Sith. "He mentioned something about that Professor Hojo being connected to Sephiroth somehow, and that seemed too random for him to be just telling us what we want to hear. I think he really does know something."

"Well if he really does know all this shit, and he wants to stop Sephiroth so bad, why don' he just tell us what he knows?" asked Barret. "I'm with the cat, man, somethin' jes' don' add up here. Why d'you want him so bad, anyways?"

"Because I really do think he could help us," said Tifa earnestly. "And after all, the reason we're here at all is to gather information, right? Well how would you explain to Cloud and the others that we had someone who could've been a really good source of information, but you just discarded him without even giving him a chance?"

Barret thought about this for a while. "I wanna talk to the guy first."

"Alright then," Tifa said, relieved at this small progress. "Let's go meet him."

The three of them left the inn and made their way back to the ShinRa mansion once more, Tifa hoped for the last time.

"'Ey! Vampire-man!" Barret shouted as he opened the door.

"Barret!" said Tifa harshly, before calling out "Vincent?"

Without a word Vincent stepped out from the shadows near the stairs into the sunlight let in by the large windows. For the first time seeing clearly his full body, Tifa noted that he was still clad in the red and black rags he had worn in the coffin, along with the dark scarlet cape she had noticed last night. She also noted that only his left hand appeared to be normal, though still covered in a tattered glove. His right appeared to be a bronze claw, looking as if it was stolen from a suit of armor for some alien race. He truly did seem a figure from a nightmare, and looked very out of place in the bright, cheery light, though the superstitious part of Tifa's mind remarked that at least he didn't burst into flames upon stepping into the sunlight, or whatever supposedly happened to vampires caught out after daybreak. He surveyed the three of them before speaking. "Have you come to a decision?"

"Not yet, man. Gotta few questions for you first," said Barret. "Why d'you wanna come with us so bad?"

"I would believe the girl would have explained that to you," replied Vincent coldly.

"She told me 'bout you feelin' guilty 'bout some shit or whatever, but ya never said what you did that was so bad, did ya?" No response. "And why d'ya wanna come with us, anyways? You seem like kinda the loner type."

"I daresay my odds of success working alone would be fairly low," replied Vincent. "While I know some information on Sephiroth, I know nothing of his recent activities other than what you have told me. I would have no idea where to start looking, whereas you three seem to have at least some idea."

"Not really," muttered Barret. "A'ight then, what kinda help could you be to us? You seem to know somethin' but you sure ain't willin' to spill it. So why should we keep you along?"

"My knowledge may be of interest to you, when the time is right," said Vincent. "And in the meanwhile, I can hold my own in a fight, should the situation call for it."

"Oh yeah?" said Barret, and Vincent responded by reaching into his shirt and pulling out an aged, though still formidable .44 caliber revolver. "'Ey, not bad," said Barret. "Figured you'd use a sword or some shit like that, you don' seem like the type for guns."

"I know much about firearms. I used to have a considerable collection, though they have all been lost to me save for the Quicksilver," he said, tapping the revolver before replacing it in his shirt.

"No kiddin'," said Barret. "We gotta talk," he said, turning to Tifa and Cait Sith.

"Okay, so what do you think?" asked Tifa.

"I'm for it," said Barret.

"That was a quick turnaround," said Tifa. "What, he won you over just by showing you his gun?"

"'Ey, tha's more than jes' a gun. That thing shows that he ain't no monster or anythin'."

"What the heck are you talking about?" asked Tifa.

"Only one creature on earth use guns, and tha's humans. You watch movies, you don't never see vampires or monsters or nothin' usin' guns. Only people. That means he probably ain't gonna eat us or nothin'." He paused a second. "Plus that is a pretty sweet piece he has. Looks customized an' everythin'."

Tifa rolled her eyes. Boys and their toys. "Okay then. Cait Sith, what about you?"

"Huh?" asked the cat. "You're asking me?"

"Yes…" said Tifa, confused. "What do you think?"

"I just didn't really think my opinion would matter."

"Sure it does. You're one of us, so you get a say."

"Wow…" said Cait Sith, looking down. "I've gotta say, guys, I'm kinda honored."

"Yeah, yeah, save the group hug for later!" said Barret. "What d'you say, cat?"

"Well, I would say keep him around to find out whatever he knows that could be helpful to us, but so far we've got no reason to think that he'll ever tell us anything, assuming that he really does know anything and isn't just stringing us along. Sounds like a bad deal to me. I want some guarantee that first, he knows something, and second, that he'll talk. And while we're at it, third, that we can trust him and he won't betray us somehow."

"So you want him to sign a contract or something?" asked Tifa.

"Hey, I've run a few scams in my day, and I know that if you want to avoid getting conned, you make sure you know exactly what you're getting into and that all, and I mean all, your bases are covered," replied Cait Sith. "I mean, so far all he's really proven to us is that he's able to shoot us in the back if he wants to."

"I don't think he'll betray us," said Tifa.

"And what makes you think that?" asked Cait Sith.

"I…I trust him," Tifa said, able to offer no better explanation. And though she was still afraid of the strange man, she did believe what he was saying.

Cait Sith nodded. "Well that's great, but I don't have feminine intuition to help me out. Feline intuition, but that's not quite the same. Anyway, I want something a bit more concrete." He turned to Vincent. "If we're gonna take you along, we need some assurances."

"Assurances?"

"I want to know that you really do know what you're talking about with Sephiroth and all, and that you'll tell us about him if we ask."

Vincent silently deliberated before turning to Tifa. "You seemed surprised to learn that Hojo was involved with Sephiroth." Tifa nodded. "In this mansion, there should be some records detailing the progress of the Jenova Project, of which Sephiroth is the primary product. I believe Hojo's name should be signed to many of the latter entries of the journal, which would validate my information."

"Hey, that's right!" said Cait Sith, snapping his fingers as Mog clumsily attempted and failed to do the same. "I remember skimming through that book while I was lookin' around down there. Hojo's name was in it!"

"An' you didn' think of sayin' so earlier?" demanded Barret. Cait Sith shrugged, inciting cursing from Barret.

Vincent continued, hardly taking notice of the pair's conflict. "As for whether I will tell you of what I know, I can make no promises. I feel no inclination to ever speak of what I have participated in, and I doubt whether such knowledge would be useful to you at any rate. However, I will say that should it become evident that my particular experiences will prove vital, I shall act accordingly. This is the most I can offer."

Cait Sith nodded. "Okay, then, one more thing. We can trust you, right? I mean, not to betray us or turn us over to ShinRa or anything?"

"Any response I give to that question will only be as good as your trust in me, anyway," replied Vincent coolly. "But for whatever it is worth to you, no, I have no intent of harming any of you in any way. As I said, it is to my benefit to work with you."

Tifa turned to Cait Sith expectantly. The cat rubbed his tiny chin in a remarkably human-like manner before shrugging. "Eh, seems like the best offer we're gonna get. What the hell."

"Okay, then, it sounds like we're agreed," said Tifa. "Welcome aboard, Vincent." The caped man nodded.

"A'ight, now that that's settled, let's get on the road! Gotta long trip ahead of us," said Barret.

"Where is our destination?" asked Vincent.

"The Gold Saucer," replied Tifa.

Vincent just stared. "The amusement park?" he said finally.

"A long story, we'll explain in the car," said Tifa, as she led the way out of the mansion and, at long last, out of the cursed town.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

…and the gang's finally all here. Separated, but all here. I may have doubted whether or not to include Yuffie, but I don't know that I ever questioned Vincent. He was my favorite character in the game, above even Cid and Barret (an odd trio, to be sure), plus, unlike Yuffie, his backstory ties in very well with the main plot. And he's just cool. Sure he's kinda angsty, but unlike those whiny teenagers who wear too much black clothing and makeup, he has a bloody good reason for it. I've tried to make him more antisocial and freaky and less willing to spill his guts, as you may have noticed. Other than that, I'm not sure exactly what direction I'm going to take with him. We'll see. As for the rest of the chapter, I've gotta say it was kinda nice writing for Tifa. While I generally like to stick with a single narrator when possible for dramatic purposes, it was quite refreshing to get away from the perpetually grim Cloud and write for a character capable of actual emotions, especially since Tifa's kind of been neglected so far. Granted it's kind of dangerous, seeing as much of the plot's suspense depends on the player/reader not knowing exactly what Tifa knows, but in small doses it can be good. Alright, that's about all I can think of. You can likely guess where the story's going next, but if not, stay tuned. Actually, strike that, just stay tuned anyway, and tell me what you think!

Dark ki: Hm, didn't know that I was really trying to make Cid that different, but I'll certainly take the compliment! And yeah, one thing that kinda bugs me about the game is how young the characters are. I upped Cid from 32 to 40 or so (he always seemed like a grumpy old man type to me, and though 40 certainly isn't too old, it's enough), and though I'll probably leave the rest the same, twenty-one does seem a bit young to be saving the world, and moreover, sixteen seemed quite young to be recruited into the elite military organization of the world. But at least it's better than FF8 and 9, where the main characters are teenagers and freaking kids, respectively.

Johnfreyan: Thanks a lot for the rave review! I certainly hope I reach the City of the Ancients as well. I'm beginning to think I will. Cosmo Canyon was a big stopping point for me, as it was a pretty dry, uninteresting part of the game where little happened except explaining the Lifestream and all. Wasn't at all fun to write, and it took me a while to get the motivation to get through it. But once I got past that we get into more interesting things like Cid and Vincent's introductions, and coming up, good stuff like more fun with the Turks and the return to the Gold Saucer (we all know what that means) that should be really interesting to write, so I'm quite a bit more driven to continue. Who knows how far I'll get?


	38. Honor Among Thieves

Honor Among Thieves

"What the…"

"What is it?"

"…musta hit the engine!"

"…serious?"

"Damn right it's serious!"

"…falling!"

"No shit we're…"

"...you land?"

"Hold on to your asses!"

The first thing Cloud noticed was that his entire body seemed sore and aching. Secondly, it gradually dawned on him that he was not grasping an airplane's wing, but was instead lying on the ground, sand, by the feel of it. He opened his eyes: an unwise move, as he looked straight into the sun. Grunting, he shut his eyes and slowly rose to a sitting position.

"You're up!" He turned and once again opened his reluctant eyes to see Aeris and Red XIII moving towards him across a beach.

"'Bout time." Cloud turned around to see Cid leaning up against his plane and smoking, the waves lapping at his ankles. "You been out for hours now."

"Be sure to tell me how you feel after three point-blank frag grenades," muttered Cloud.

"How are you feeling?" asked Aeris.

"I've been better," said Cloud as he sat up with a grimace. "The only reason I'm alive at all is this SOLDIER uniform stopped most of the shrapnel. But I'm okay now, I think."

"Great, now you can help us sit around and do squat," remarked Cid.

"Where are we?" said Cloud, looking around. "And where's Yuffie?" he added, for the teenager was nowhere in sight.

"The girl ran ahead to scout the area, said it looked familiar," said Cid. "Figures, she looked pretty damn oriental.

"Oriental? So this is Fen-Shi?" said Cloud. "We flew clear to another continent?"

"Yep," said Cid. "Those ShinRa morons can't design an aircraft engine with any fuel efficiency, but I sure as hell can. Must be why they wanted to steal my plane. Not that it'd do 'em a lot of good now." Cloud looked the plane over. It seemed to have hit the ground hard, and was half-buried in sand, with various small parts scattered around after having jarred loose from the impact. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Fucking ShinRa pricks…" continued Cid. "Took my airship, took my rocket, and now they shot up my plane. So here I am stranded with you morons on a different continent with no way off and nowhere to go even if I could. Fuckin' grand."

"You could return to your town," said Red XIII. "The people there seemed to look up to you, as did your wif…" He caught himself, but too late.

Cid laughed derisively. "My wife? Man, just the thought of bein' married to that dumb broad gives me the chills. And somehow I doubt I could just waltz back into town after that scene, ShinRa probably left a contingent there waiting for me. Fucking bastards took everything from me."

The sad tone in the normally harsh voice surprised everyone. "You…could come with us," said Aeris.

Cid laughed humorlessly once more. "Thanks, but I think Fen-Shi's goin' far enough with you. What the hell did you four do to get ShinRa so pissed at you, anyway?"

"Long, long story," said Cloud.

"Well, guess it hardly matters. Not like we're goin' anywhere unless I can get the Bronco fixed up again, and without my workshop, that'd be a freaking marvel."

There wasn't much to be said to this, and the four sat in silence for a while before Aeris remarked "Yuffie sure has been gone for a while."

"You ask me, she went straight to Wutai and ditched you." Cloud turned to Cid with a quizzical expression at this seemingly random prediction. Cid shrugged. "If I remember right, Wutai should be pretty near here to the northwest, she was probably goin' straight for it."

"You know this area?" Cloud asked, somewhat surprised that the rather crude man would be so well-traveled.

Cid nodded, taking a drag before answering. "It's been a few years, but I got a decent look at the landscape from the air before we crashed. This is the free Fen-Shi, that much I know."

"Free Fen-Shi?" asked Aeris.

"Dammit, don't you kids know any history? Yeah, the free Fen-Shi. Back in the day ShinRa had no influence on this entire continent, so about sixteen years ago they set up a few trading and mining colonies in the south to get a foothold. The natives weren't too big on it, and they attacked the colonists, and the ShinRa took the opportunity to march all the way up until they got stopped right about here. So this region is the last part of Fen-Shi still independent of ShinRa, so they're the free Fen-Shi, and Wutai's the capital of the region."

Cloud nodded. He had followed all news from the Fen-Shi War closely as a boy, particularly the news of…

"Sephiroth…" he said.

"Yeah, he was here," said Cid. He served mostly in the southern region, and I was up here in the north, but I ran into him late in the war. Freaky guy."

"So you served in the war too?" asked Aeris.

"Yep. Whole thing was bullshit. Our troops just rolled right over all the small villages. The idiot natives came at our riflemen with freaking pointy sticks. Almost every "battle" was just a massacre. Then, when we finally met some actual resistance at Wutai, ShinRa decided the war was no longer 'cost-effective' and bailed out, just like they did with the rocket."

"Are you saying you wish the ShinRa had continued to fight? Whose side are you on?" asked Red XIII somewhat harshly.

Cid just shrugged. "I ain't on anyone's side. All I'm sayin' is the whole war was bullshit. A bunch of backwoods natives with their pumped-up regional pride and a scumbag corporation with nothin' but cash-registers in their heads. The idiots versus the bastards.

"…a relatively accurate description of the war," conceded Red XIII. "Though I have never heard it described quite that way before."

"Hey, I didn't learn about it in the textbooks or newspapers, I lived it," said Cid, flicking his cigarette butt into the foam at his feet. "Anyway, as fun as this hasn't been, I should at least try to patch up this damn plane so I can get the hell out of here."

Cloud nodded as he slowly and painfully rose to his feet. "Aeris, could you manage a Cura spell? This still hurts like a bitch."

Aeris nodded and picked up her staff, which she had left on the ground, only to stare at it in confusion. "My Materia is gone!"

Cloud muttered an expletive as he reached for his own Restore Materia, only to find that all his were gone as well. "What the hell…did it come loose in the crash?"  
"It couldn't have, I didn't have my staff with me then!" said Aeris. "I only summoned it to heal you afterwards, a little while before Yuffie went off…" her voice trailed off as all three of their minds converged on the same thought.

"She finally accomplished her initial goal of obtaining all our Materia," remarked Red XIII.

"Dammit, how can you be so calm???" demanded Cloud. "Without magic, there's no way we're going to be able to beat Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth?" said Cid.

"We've got to hunt that little bitch down and get it back!" continued Cloud unabated, mentally berating himself for letting this happen. "Red XIII, you said she went northwest?" Red XIII nodded. "Alright, then let's—"

"Hold on one damn minute!" said Cid. "What did you say about Sephiroth? I thought he was dead!"

"No time to explain," said Cloud, gathering up his gear. "Are you coming?"

"Me? Hell no!" said Cid. "You got your Materia stolen by your own little teenage punk, well for one that's hilarious, but second, that's your damn problem. You do whatever you want, I'm stayin' here to fix my plane. If you can get that settled and get back here, maybe you can hitch a ride, but that's all I've got for ya."

Cloud growled, but had little choice but to accept the Captain's words. He was right, it wasn't his problem, it was theirs. They had let their guard down around Yuffie, came to trust her after she had been through so much with them, and they had forgotten her original goal in encountering them: to steal their Materia. Well, at least she hadn't gotten Tifa and the others'. Tifa…

"We should check up on the others before we go," said Cloud, pulling the PHS from his pack. Ignoring Cid's remark of "There's more of you morons?", Cloud flicked the switch on the side and tried hailing them several times, to no effect.

"Where the hell are these friends of yours, anyway?" asked Cid.

"Nibelheim."

"Nibelheim?! And you think you're gonna get through to 'em with that little toy?" said Cid incredulously. "Man, that thing doesn't have half the range to get through to Nibelheim.

Cloud muttered a curse. On top of being stranded in a foreign land with no Materia and completely off Sephiroth's trail, they were totally out of touch with their comrades. He wondered if Tifa and the others had been able to turn up anything, wondered if they were all right, but there wasn't much time to ponder their fate now. For now all there was to do was hunt down Yuffie and retrieve their Materia, preferably removing a limb or two of hers in the process. He shouldered his pack and strapped on his sword. "Let's go."

Though Cloud was in no mood to appreciate it, he at some level recognized the aesthetic appeal of the landscape, rolling green hills dotted with colorful alien vegetation in a valley lined with mountains to the south and north. One mountain in particular stood out above the others towards the north, a vast crag which appeared to have a particularly erratic and unusual face, though Cloud could not tell details at this distance.

"Yuffie passed this way, I believe," said Red XIII, sniffing at the ground. "We are on the right track." Cloud grunted an acknowledgement.

"I can't believe she did this," said Aeris. "I mean, I know she tried to rob us at first, but she's helped us so much since then. She saved my life in that last battle. I don't know what to think."

"That she's a greedy little bitch," said Cloud. "She helped us as long as we served her goals, and then when she had us where she wanted, she took what she wanted and ditched us. Pretty simple."

"Perhaps her motives are not as simple as we suppose," mused Red XIII. Cloud said nothing. If the two of them wanted to ignore the obvious to hold on to faith in the girl that had robbed them, that was their business. But trusting Yuffie was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place, and he for one wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

After a brief respite for the night, the trio woke early and continued onward. Guided by Red XIII, they found themselves heading towards the large mountain Cloud had spotted from a distance away. After a few more days' hiking a sizeable town came into view at the foot of the mountain.

It quickly became apparent that the town was truly remarkable. The buildings were without exception all designed in the traditional Far Western style, all sporting pagoda-style roofs, vivid red color interspersed with whites and blacks, and elaborate exterior ornamentation. A series of small footbridges spanned the length of a sparkling stream running down from the mountain through the town, each bridge decorated by a series of stone lamps. And all was overlooked by the mountain towering over the town, which Cloud now saw was carved into a series of stone faces representing people, dragons, and other mythological beasts. It was truly picturesque, but…

"Something is wrong here…" said Red XIII thoughtfully, and Cloud agreed. Everything was beautiful, to be sure, but it all seemed perhaps too beautiful. The architecture was too elaborate and exotic, the colors too bright, the grass too green, the water too blue. Everything seemed pristine and polished to the extent that it seemed that no one could actually live here. Where were the signs of wear and use, the technology that spanned the world even past ShinRa influence, any signs of actual functionality rather than pure form? The town seemed fake, an amusement-park replica of itself.

Well, it hardly mattered. They were here for one reason, and that was to recover their Materia. But they were at a serious disadvantage, in that this was Yuffie's home turf. If there were a good place to hide, she would surely find it, while the three of them didn't even know where to start looking. But Cloud wasn't leaving until he found her. Even if he had to burn this entire fake little town to the ground, he would find her and get their Materia back.

But now they were faced with the problem of where to start searching. Thankfully, many of the nearby buildings were helpfully labeled in the Eastern as well as Western languages, so at least finding their way around wouldn't be too difficult. Cloud pondered. Where would Yuffie drop by after returning to her hometown? His eyes caught on a sign labeled "The Turtle's Paradise: Pub and Restaurant." Yuffie often seemed to have trouble accepting her age, maybe a bar would be a good bet. He gestured Red XIII and Aeris to follow as he stepped into the large colorful building.

The interior was rather bright and welcoming for a bar, with warm lighting from above illuminating the wood-paneled interior. As could be expected, the bar was fairly sparsely populated in the early afternoon, though there were several tables of people eating lunch as well as a tall black man and shorter white man drinking at the bar. Cloud promptly made for the bar. The bartender turned to face him with a wide smile on his face. "Welcome to the Turtle's Paradise, sir!" he said in clear Eastern. "Can I interest you in…"

Cloud waved aside the offer. "Have you seen a teenage girl, sixteen, in here recently? A native, but who hasn't been around in a while?"

The bartender hardly seemed put off by Cloud's brusque manner. "Well sir, I'm afraid we don't serve anyone under 18 in here, so I don't believe I would have seen your missing teenager."

The man's wording made Cloud hesitate: how did he know that they were 'missing' anyone, rather than just looking for someone? But it was far from enough to prove anything, so Cloud just nodded his thanks and turned back to the other two. "Let's go," he said, leading the way out the door. They exited, and Cloud was just looking around to see where their next move should be when a voice from behind them said "Excuse me." Cloud turned around, only to find a .45 handgun pointed right at his face. The owner of the gun, as well as its twin which was pointing at Aeris, was the white man at the bar, and with him was his friend, whose .357 was pointed down at Red XIII. "It's been too long, man," said Reno the Turk with an easy grin.

Cloud internally cursed. He had walked right by the two Turks without even noticing them. They were dressed casually instead of in their standard business suits, Reno in red silk shirt, blue casual jacket and jeans, and Rude in black T-shirt, pants and his sunglasses. But of course they would be dressed differently when out on assignment; after all, they were undercover agents. Once again, as with Yuffie, Cloud had let his guard down, and been punished for it. But how could the Turks have known they would be here, much less moved so quickly to intercept them?

"You've been mighty busy, haven't you?" said Reno. "Heard you made quite the scene over in Rocket Town, pity I couldn't have been there. Although I really shouldn't be surprised that Elena screwed things up. So anyway, how have ya been?"

"Peachy," said Cloud. "And glad to see you got your job back."

"Wha…ah, so you heard about that in your little adventure in the ShinRa HQ. Well, thank you," said Reno courteously. "And may I say I'm quite glad to see you all looking so well, particularly you, Aeris. But alas, you know why we're here."

"She's not going with you," said Cloud firmly.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll be coming with her this time. Your whole little club has been a thorn in too many sides for too long now. I'm not sure if that's physically possible, but it's my metaphor and I'm sticking with it. Anyway, the point is that we'll be taking all of you this time. Now let's not make a scene in this scenic little Western town, shall we, and just do it the easy way?"

"You know we can't do that," said Cloud.

Reno sighed. "Perhaps I wasn't clear. Aeris we do have orders to capture alive, but you and the Red here are toss-ups. The Prez would love to ask you a few questions, but to be perfectly blunt, Rude and I get sizeable op bonuses for bringing your head in, whether or not it's still attached to the rest of you. You're one pull of the trigger away from the great gig in the sky, man, think it over."

Reno had a point, Cloud knew. The Turks had the jump on them, and the last time Cloud had tried to take on a Turk in such a situation, he had ended up on the floor in a stranglehold. He tried wildly to think of a plan, but nothing came to him. They were alone in a strange town, without their other comrades for backup, and without even their Materia. Not good.

A small telephone rang from Reno's belt. He sighed again. "Rude, you have one more free hand than me at the moment, would you be a dear and get that for me?" Rude reached down and retrieved the phone to hold it to his ear, only to quickly withdraw it as a familiar voice screeched loudly from it.

"Reno, Rude! This is a Code 87! I found Corneo, but he—"

Elena's voice was suddenly muffled, only to give way to another.

"Hey, what's this? Ooh, I hope you're calling some girlfriends of yours, honey, two may not be enough!" said the man. This voice too sounded familiar, though Cloud couldn't place it. And then came the most familiar voice yet.

"Two?! You sick old bastard, let me go!" yelled Yuffie from the background.

"Ooh, feisty! This should be fun!"

Elena's voice came back on. "Reno, we're heading up the mountain, but you'll need backup, he's got—" And the other end went silent.

"Whaddaya know, Rude, Elena finally managed to do something useful by getting herself captured and telling us about it," remarked Reno. Rude nodded silently, the smallest trace of a smirk on his face. "Well then, this is awkward," remarked Reno to Cloud. "It looks like the perv has both Elena and your teenage ninja girl. And it sounds like he may have us outnumbered." He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "So…how about we put this on hold and, ah, agree not to hurt each other until we get them back?"

"You mean work together?" said Cloud.

"If you must put it like that, then sure, why not? We work together to rescue our respective damsels in distress, and then we get back to our guns in your faces, what do ya say?"

Cloud was skeptical. The timing on this incident was too convenient and Reno a little too eager to team up, it seemed like a trap. But why would the Turks need to lure them into a trap, when they already had them at their mercy? This seemed like their best chance yet to escape, not to mention that they still needed to find Yuffie to recover their Materia. Cloud nodded.

"Glad to hear it," said Reno, his gun withdrawing slightly from Cloud's face, though far from enough to render him safe. "Alright, so Elena, in her typical articulate fashion, said they were going up 'the mountain.' Naturally there's a whole shitload of mountains around here, but what do you want to bet she meant that one?" he said, pointing to the towering mountain with the carved faces.

Cloud shrugged. "Let's go."

Reno led the uneasy alliance through town, and up the large mountain's dusty narrow trail, Cloud following closely behind, with Aeris and Red XIII in tow and Rude bringing up the rear, vigilant for any signs of attempted escape. The group was quite silent, with little to say between them until they found their quarry. Suddenly Reno held up his hand for them to halt, then turned to them.

"You hear that?" he said quietly. Cloud listened, and sure enough he heard voices not too far up the mountain, though what they were saying was impossible to distinguish. Cloud nodded. Reno motioned them again to follow, and they proceeded onward up the mountain. Soon the voices of the two women began to emerge clearly, shrilling demanding their release from their anonymous captor. After a while, the captor's voice was more clearly audible, though Cloud still couldn't place it.

Suddenly Aeris came up to whisper in Cloud's ear. "Cloud! Cloud, isn't that—"

But Reno shushed her as he leaned up against the side of one of the stone faces, a jocular looking fat man. He drew his guns, paused a moment, then turned to walk in front of the face, Cloud following with sword in hand. He saw Yuffie and Elena tied to the fat man's eyes, constantly struggling against the knots that bound them. Standing on the ground nearby were two nondescript-looking men, accompanied by…

"You've gotta be kidding me…" muttered Cloud. For there, eyeing the two girls hungrily, was none other than the lecherous crime-lord of Midgar's Sector 6 slums, Don Corneo. Everyone simultaneously turned to look at the new arrivals.

"Reno!" cried Elena.

"Cloud!" cried Yuffie.

"Who the hell are you?" cried Corneo. "Wait…aren't you…"

"The one who interrogated you and killed your pet snake? Yeah," said Cloud.

"Yeah, the one who dressed like a girlie!" said Corneo. Cloud grimaced. He was hoping not to have that particular detail brought up again, and he caught Reno's glance in his direction. "And you were there too!" continued Corneo, looking at Aeris. "But who are you?" he said, turning to Reno.

"I'm a coworker of the lady you have tied up there, and I suggest you let her down," replied Reno, smoothly twirling one of his guns.

"What, the blonde one? No way, she's positively scrumptious!" said Corneo. "Although the younger one, mmm…"

"GROSS-NESS! I would've taken rope escape lessons more seriously if I'd known this would happen!" exclaimed Yuffie, wildly thrashing against her bonds in vain.

"That wasn't a request, Corneo, that was an order. Let her down," said Reno.

"Order? You think you can order me?! Don't you know who I am??" said Corneo, puffing out his chest as he puffed on his cigar.

"You're an insignificant little tub of shit who thinks that just because he's the big man in one sector of Midgar's slums that he's worth something. Who thinks that he's big enough to ignore his obligations to ShinRa, who gave him the money to start up his little syndicate in the first place. You forget about us, Corneo? Forget why we helped you out?" The usual jocularity was gone from Reno's manner now, and Corneo stepped back before the cool menace exuded from the Turk.

"Y-you wanted me to be an informant…to keep an ear out in the slums and tell you about possible problems."

"That's right, Donnie boy, we wanted you to be an informant. An informant for us. But you've been trading information to people other than ShinRa recently, haven't you? In fact, I believe you even gave this guy here some information that made my life a lot more difficult. You told him about the Sector 7 operation, didn't you?"

"But…he threatened me!" wailed Corneo. "He said he'd cut my—"

"I lost a lot of good men, one of my guns, and my job because of what you told him, Donnie," said Reno darkly. "And that's not the only time you've given away ShinRa information, is it?"

"Y-yes…"

"Oh? What about when you traded the names of your ShinRa contacts to a would-be saboteur before he had his little accident with the poisoned drink? Or when you leaked the news of Sephiroth's reappearance and set the populace gossiping and doubting ShinRa's official account?"

"You…you knew?" said Corneo.

"We always know, Corneo," said Reno, advancing towards him. "And we have no use for an informant who trades information both ways."

"N-no! Boys, get him!" cried Corneo. His two henchmen reached into their coats, but before they could draw their guns, they both fell with gaping holes in their chest. Corneo stared unbelievingly at Reno, who hadn't even moved. He then turned upwards, to where Rude stood atop the stone face, smoking gun in hand. "Whoo-boy…"

"No one's gonna bail your worthless ass out of this one, Donnie boy," said Reno. "Now I'm gonna ask one more time: let the woman down."

"O-okay! Just one thing! Why do you think that a big man like me would only bring two bodyguards along on this trip?"

"I don't have time for—"

"Because I have something even bigger in store!" exclaimed Corneo. "Now you're gonna pay for beating up my Apps! Oh, Rapps!"

Cloud suddenly became aware of a loud, flapping sound, and looked around to find its source. There was nothing to see at first, until…

"What the…" Cloud muttered, as a huge, winged lizard flew up from below the ledge on which they all stood, flapping its leathery wings to hover as it eyed them through its slits of eyes.

"Where the hell do you keep getting these things?" asked Cloud.

"Hee hee! Money can buy lots of things, including exotic pets!" said Corneo delightedly. "Rapps! Feeding time!"

Rapps hissed as it eyed its prospective prey, then swooped down on Cloud and Reno, who both dove to the side, barely avoiding its claws. Cloud quickly rolled upright, simultaneously whipping his sword up in a rising slash, catching the lizard's flank and drawing blood. Rapps hissed once more, sweeping its tail backwards and throwing Cloud back. Grunting as he hit the ground, Cloud started climbing to his feet to see Red XIII leaping in to engage the creature point-blank and keep it away from the virtually helpless Aeris. The Turks, meanwhile, were wasting no time emptying their firearms into the beast. While Reno's shots seemed to be doing virtually nothing, the lizard noticeably shivered with the impact of each of Rude's larger caliber bullets, and it turned its attention from Red XIII to the black-clad Turk, still perched atop the stone face. It swept out a claw at Rude, who leapt over it just in time, holstered his gun and leapt into the air to land a drop kick right in the creature's face. Hissing, the creature thrashed its head around like a wolf trying to break its prey's neck, and Rude went flying to hit the rock wall hard and fall to the ground, lying motionless. On his feet once more, Cloud took the opportunity provided by the Turk to rush for the beast and, leaping into the air, bring his sword down in a hack to the creature's torso. The blade cut deeper this time, and Rapps screamed as its blood spurted out all over Cloud's sword. It lashed out at Cloud with a claw as he sailed through the air, which he managed to dodge, but his mid-air evasion caused him to land unevenly, which the beast quickly exploited by swerving around and batting out another claw, this one catching the unprepared Cloud squarely and sending him too hurtling through the air to hit the stone face with a thud.

Reno grit his teeth as his guns clicked empty. The bullets might as well be mosquitoes for all the notice the huge, tough-skinned lizard was paying them. It seemed that close combat was the way to win this fight, but both the swordsman and pugilist were down. There was only him and Hojo's two former specimens, the Ancient and the Red. Well, he still had a trick or two up his sleeve, literally. "Yo, Red! Go for it!" Reno called. The Red turned a fierce eye to the Turk, clearly resenting being ordered by one who had once held him captive, but it knew there was no choice, and so charged the beast. Reno raised his hands and gestured at Red XIII as his cuffs started glowing green. Suddenly the Red's speed increased twofold thanks to Reno's Haste spell, and before the Rapps could react it was on it, little more than an orange blur, as it flew all over the beast, biting and slashing at it with its own teeth and claws. Rapps screamed in fury as it tried to catch the lightning-fast attacker darting all over it, to no avail. After a moment, it stopped hovering and dropped to its feet, sweeping its large wings forward, catching Red XIII and throwing him off. The Red somersaulted in the air and landed agilely on its feet, quickly turning around and leaping for the lizard once more, but this time Rapps was ready, and just as Red XIII was about to hit, it lowered its head and opened its jaws. Red XIII leapt right into the creature's maw, and the lizard promptly chomped down and spit the nearly impaled Red out onto the ground.

Reno cursed. Now it was just him and Aeris. "Don't suppose you'd care to jump in at any point?" he snapped.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any Materia," said Aeris, eying her wounded comrades worriedly. Spitting out another curse, Reno dropped his ineffectual guns to clatter to the ground and reached to his back, drawing out a henceforth hidden small rapier from under his jacket. "Alright, you fucking lizard, let's dance," he growled as he slowly approached. Rapps turned its attention to him, eyeing him carefully. Reno raised his rapier high above as head as he ran towards the creature's leg. Rapps simply kicked out, but predicting this, Reno dodged to the side, deftly twirling around to slash the other leg and simultaneously raising his empty hand to shoot a lightning bolt straight at the creature's chest. Reeling from the two pronged assault, the creature again started hovering, floating backwards away from the Turk, but Reno simply took the opportunity to launch another Thundara spell at it, this time striking it in the head and causing it to twitch all over. Screeching, the lizard forwent flying and launched itself forward with its legs. Reno wasn't prepared for this, and was bowled over as the huge reptile collided with him. Groaning, he raised his head, only to see two rows of huge teeth coming straight for him. "Damn."

But they didn't close. To Reno's astonishment, Aeris jumped in and, nearly thrusting herself into the lizard's mouth, propped open the jaws with her staff. Reno fully expected the wooden staff to be snapped like a twig but it proved remarkably sturdy, and the lizard cried out in rage as it struggled against the brace. Reno quickly rolled over to recover his discarded rapier and wasted no time leaping forward to thrust it into the beast's face. The hasty attack did not hit eye or brain, but Rapps cried out as it snapped its head back out of the way, spitting out Aeris' staff in the process. Reno was about to attack again, but was distracted by movement behind him. He risked a quick glance to discover that Cloud was again on his feet, though understandably shaky after hitting the rock wall at a high velocity. Reno nodded at him before turning back to the beast. While few of its wounds were critical in themselves, the accumulated injuries inflicted by Rude's .357, Cloud's huge blade, Red XIII's teeth and claws, and Reno's rapier and magic had severely weakened it. "Whaddaya say, Cloud, shall we finish this cold-blooded little bitch?" Reno asked.

Cloud nodded, and the two raised their blades in unison as they rushed forward. Hissing, Rapps thrust its two upper claws forward to catch the foes, but Reno deftly scrambled over the incoming arm, while Cloud simply swung his blade down, chopping off the beast's hand. Rapps screamed out as blood spurted from its severed limb, only to have Reno clamber up to its face and thrust his blade deeply into the lizard's cheek, causing it to screech even louder and stagger backwards. Letting out a battlecry, Cloud sprinted, leapt forward, and hacked down straight into the creature's chest, feeling the blade break through bone as it clove straight into the beast's heart. Rapps stood there unsteadily for a moment, staring straight forward, then promptly collapsed to the ground, tongue lolled out of its lifeless head.

"Whoo-boy, whoo-boy…" In the midst of the battle, Cloud had all but forgotten about the pudgy little slumlord who had been their original target before Rapps had intervened. Bending over to retrieve his blade from the beast's skull, Reno walked purposefully forward towards the cowering little man before giving him a swift kick to the side of the head, sending him sprawling on the ground. Without another word, Reno walked over to the unconscious Rude and, casting a Revive spell to bring him back to his senses, helped his comrade to his feet. Cloud turned back to his own comrades and saw Aeris gently stroking Red XIII's mane as he stirred, recovering thanks to the phoenix down and healing potion she had given him. Satisfied that they were alright, Cloud turned back to his enemies.

Rude taken care of, Reno turned to Elena, still tied to the stone face and quickly cut her down with a knife from his pocket. Ignoring her profuse expressions of thanks, Reno strolled over to Don Corneo, who scrambled to his feet and backed away towards the cliff face.

"P-p-please! We can make a deal!" said Corneo in a high voice. "I can offer you anything! I can double whatever salary ShinRa gives you! All the girlies you want! Anything!"

"Donnie, Donnie, you still don't get it," said Reno, shaking his head. "Why do you think we teamed up with our own enemies, hiked up a mountain, and killed that huge fucking pet of yours, all just to find you?"

"Um…um…" said Corneo, thinking hard. "Because you wanted to rescue your friend?"

"Wrong," said Reno, turning to face Rude, whose gun was now drawn and pointed at Corneo. The Don's eyes widened for a split second. One final gunshot rang out, echoing down from the mountaintop and leaving in its wake a complete, perfect silence. Reno stood still for a while, long auburn hair and coattails flapping in the wind before slowly walking forward, bending down to Corneo's lifeless body.

"The answer was…" he said, then kicked the corpse from the cliff face. "…because it's our job."

Turning away from the scene, Cloud returned to the dead Rapps, and struggled to heave the massive corpse aside in order to retrieve his sword from beneath it. The only sound aside from the rustling of the dead flesh was Elena jabbering frantically into a small phone, reporting the situation to whoever was on the other end, no doubt an upper ShinRa exec. Everyone else was silent, as Aeris helped Red XIII up, Reno retrieved and reloaded his discarded firearms, and Rude simply stood by wordlessly. Finally, Cloud managed to yank his sword out from under the beast, and grabbed a cloth from his bag to wipe it clean, then replaced it on his back as Elena turned to Reno.

"Reno, sir! I just got our new orders from H.Q.!" she exclaimed.

Reno stared silently. "…and?" he said eventually.

"We're to set full priority on capturing the Ancient and her companions!" she said.

Reno turned to Cloud, saying nothing, and the two stared into each others' eyes. Reno's fingers twitched slightly towards the guns in his coat, and Cloud could feel his own hand jerk slightly towards the sword on his back. The moment stretched on for an eternity; Cloud could almost hear the tumbleweed rustle by between them. But then their eye contact was broken, as Cloud saw Reno's eyes quickly, almost involuntarily, dart over to Aeris, the woman who had thrown herself into the mouth of the beast to save his life, that of her enemy. He quickly returned his gaze to Cloud, but the mercenary could tell that something had changed. Without warning, Reno turned to Rude.

"Hey Rude, we never got to finish our drinks, did we?" he asked. Rude shook his head. "I think we deserve a little break after a successful mission, don't you?" A small smile on his face, Rude nodded. "Hey, Elena, whaddaya say, buy you a drink?" continued Reno.

"But…but…" Elena sputtered, staring at Cloud.

"I'm sorry, I forgot who I was talking to, how inconsiderate of me," Reno said, shaking his head in mock regret before walking right up to Elena. "ELENA. DRINK. NOW," he said in a slow, loud voice, pointing to the town below. He grabbed Elena's arm and dragged her off back down the mountain path. Rude followed without a word, never glancing behind.

"Whoo! Good job, guys! Now, uh, could you let me down?"

Cloud casually strolled towards Yuffie, still tied up on the stone face, simply saying "Materia."

"Let me down, and I'll take you to it!"

"That's not the way this works, Yuffie," said Cloud. "You ran off on us before, and I'm sure not going to give you a chance to do it again. Where is it?"

"No way! I'm not gonna tell you and let you just leave me here!"

"Tell us where it is, and once we go and get it back, I'll consider coming back up here and untying you."

"What? What kinda deal is that?!"

"The only one you're going to get," said Cloud. "We just got captured by the Turks, hiked up a mountain, and nearly got killed by a huge lizard, I am not in the mood for bullshit. Tell us or we go."

"But…c'mon, guys!" said Yuffie, looking to Red XIII and Aeris for backup. But Red XIII was stony-faced, and even Aeris gave the teenager no support. Yuffie hung her head. "Fine, fine…they're in my backpack."

"…and that would be where?" said Cloud.

"In my hideout. It's the small building to the right of the path on the east side of town. The key's in my pocket, but make sure you unlock it, lock it, then unlock it again before you open the door."

"Or else what?" asked Cloud.

"Booby-trap," said Yuffie simply.

Cloud nodded. "Aeris, you come with me to check it out. Red XIII, stay up here and keep an eye on the thief. If we get ambushed by the Turks on the way down, at least you'll still be free to try and free us." Red XIII nodded, and Cloud started off down the mountain path, Aeris in tow.

The sun was falling behind the mountain peak, darkening the path as Aeris and Cloud made their way back down to the town of Wutai. Cloud was just waiting for it, counting down the minutes, but to his surprise, Aeris didn't say anything. Eventually he turned to her. "…what?" Aeris asked.

"I was waiting for you to tell me I was too hard on Yuffie," said Cloud.

Aeris shrugged. "It's not exactly how I would've handled it, but you're right, she did abuse our trust and take what we needed to fight Sephiroth. I mean, I was helpless in that fight without magic."

"You managed to help out Reno pretty well," remarked Cloud darkly.

Aeris peered at him. "Cloud, are you jealous?"

"No!" exclaimed Cloud quickly. "I was just surprised. I mean, he is our enemy, he held guns to our faces just an hour or so before that. And you saw what he did to Corneo, he isn't exactly a good guy."

"I know. But still, I couldn't just stand there and watch him get eaten, I couldn't live with myself. And besides, it worked out pretty well, didn't it?"

"For now. But they'll be back, they'll keep coming back until they get us or we kill them."

"But what if we did…kill them?" asked Aeris. "ShinRa would just send more of them after us. Isn't it better to keep them around and cultivate some sort of relationship with them, give them a reason to take it a little easy on us?"

Cloud found he had no words to counter this. Though he still thought Aeris' outlook overly idealistic, he was unexpectedly impressed with her reasoning.

"…you know I'd save you too, right?" Aeris asked after a pause.

"I'm not jealous!"

Aeris shrugged, a small smile on her face. "Still, I would like to talk to Yuffie," she said, returning without warning to the initial subject. "She did really hurt us, but I still don't think she's quite as selfish or callous as you do." Cloud managed to hide his smirk. She was still Aeris.

They completed their descent from the mountain and made their way through the town. There were no streetlights or any sort of modern lighting, but the lamps by the bridges and lining the paths had been lit, lending the town a sort of romantic air. They made their way to the east side of town, as indicated by Yuffie, and soon found the building, a much smaller structure than the rest, though still lavishly constructed in the Fenshian style and colored in bright reds and yellows. Cloud approached the door and turned Yuffie's key three times, and in addition to the lock opening he heard another hidden mechanism click, no doubt the booby trap about which Yuffie had warned them disengaging. Cloud opened the door warily, in case Yuffie had misdirected them as to how to avoid the trap, but when nothing exploded or shot out at him, he stepped through the door. The room was crowded and messy, but Cloud quickly spotted Yuffie's tan backpack lying next to her shuriken amidst the clutter on the floor, and wasted no time searching it. "Bingo," he said, as he held up several of the familiar jewels to Aeris, but she didn't reply. Cloud looked up to see with astonishment that she had tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Did you look around?" she said, her voice thankfully quite steady. Cloud took the opportunity to do so, but saw nothing that would inspire sadness or fear.

"What?"

"It's just…such a kid's room," she said. Cloud saw her point. The room could well have belonged to any teenage girl. Clothes strewn on the floor, posters of rock bands and love movies, gossip magazines on the bedside table, even a small stuffed chocobo sitting in the bed, patiently awaiting its owner's return. Compared with all of this, her oversized shuriken seemed quite out of place. They had become so used to thinking of Yuffie as one of them, it was easy to forget how much younger she really was.

"I've had my share of troubles in my life," said Aeris. "I've been pursued by ShinRa since I was born, but it didn't get bad until recently. But Yuffie's only sixteen, and yet she's living alone, traveling around, fighting and stealing to get by. She should be going to school and flirting with boys and arguing with her parents, not that." She looked at Cloud. "I never quite realized how hard it must have been for you."

"What do you mean?"

"You left home and joined SOLDIER when you were even younger than Yuffie, you've been fighting for a living practically your whole life. Not to mention you saw your hometown burned down at sixteen. You…you never had a chance. A chance for a normal life."

Cloud shrugged. "Ever since I was a kid I wanted to join SOLDIER, and since Mako treatments are more effective when applied early, they recruit really young. It didn't exactly turn out how I expected, especially with Sephiroth and Nibelheim, but it's the life I chose for myself. I don't regret it." Aeris shook her head, still staring at him, but said no more, making Cloud feel somewhat uncomfortable. "C'mon, let's go untie the little juvenile delinquent and get out of here," said Cloud, transferring the Materia from Yuffie's pack to his own and walking out of the small building.

Another hike partway up the mountain and they were back, with Red XIII sitting patiently where they had left him, and Yuffie dozing, head slumped down over her bound body.

"Did you find your Materia?" asked Red XIII.

"Hey, you're back! So you got it?" said Yuffie, snapping awake. Cloud nodded, patting his backpack. "See, I didn't steer you wrong, did I? Now cut me down, please?" Cloud grudgingly drew a small knife from his bag and started cutting at Yuffie's ropes.

"Yuffie, I just have one question," said Aeris. "Why did you do it? Why do you need Materia so badly?"

Yuffie looked away. "You wouldn't understand," she said in a softer voice than Cloud had ever heard from her.

"I think you owe us an explanation," said Aeris a bit more firmly. "Why?" But Yuffie remained silent, which suited Cloud fine. They had what they came for, and he didn't care about much else, particularly about Yuffie's motives for thievery. He finished cutting Yuffie's bonds, and she promptly fell to the ground, legs currently unaccustomed to supporting her. "Let's go," he said, and turned to start once again down the mountain. Red XIII followed silently, and Aeris, after looking sorrowfully at Yuffie a moment more, soon followed suit, leaving the girl sitting off the ground, uncharacteristically silent as she stared down at the town of Wutai laid out before her.

"Finally," muttered Cloud as the beach came into view at long last. After a moment of surveying, he spotted Cid's plane and started making for it. As he approached, he noticed that the plane seemed noticeably more intact than when they had left it, not to mention that it was no longer half-buried in sand. Cid was leaning up against the plane and smoking as if they had never left. Cloud thought he caught a glimpse of movement behind the plane as well, but decided it was a trick of the sunlight reflecting off the ocean water. Eventually Cid looked up and noticed the three of them approaching. "Hey, numbskulls!" he said, waving to them. Cloud rolled his eyes, tiring of the Captain's attitude even after their brief acquaintance. But he was their ticket out of here, so there was no use protesting. Cloud raised a hand in greeting as he walked up. "The plane's looking better," he remarked.

"Yep, didn't think I'd be able to do this much with it with most of my tools still back in town, but I think I patched her up alright," said Cid. "She'll still be a little wobbly, but she ought to hold together until I can get her fixed up proper in a repair shop. Oh, and I found something of yours."

"Something! I'm not a something, you old geezer!" And, of course, there was Yuffie, shooting out from behind the plane.

"No way!" Cloud yelled. "No fucking way you're coming this time!"

"Well actually kid, she is," said Cid. Cloud angrily turned to him. "My plane, my rules. The girl's coming."

"What? Why?!" demanded Cloud.

"She paid for her ticket, and then some," said Cid, drawing a handful of small gems from his pocket. "Haven't had my hands on Materia since the war, figured it might be fun to try 'em out again."

"So you bribed the pilot. Figures," said Cloud. Yuffie shrugged, grinning. "But do you really think you're coming with us again after all the shit you put us through?"

Yuffie's grin fell away as she looked down. "Look, I'm…"

"Save it!" Cloud barked. "I don't care what you say, it's all bullshit anyway!"

"Cloud, easy," said Aeris, gently putting a hand on his arm. "Yuffie, what is it?"

"I…I'm sorry," said Yuffie, still staring at her feet. "I know what you guys are doing is good and all, I didn't want to get in the way of that. I just really needed the Materia.

"Why?" asked Red XIII.

"For Wutai! That stupid, idiot, sell-out of a town!" said Yuffie, looking up with fiery eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Aeris.

"Ever since it got its ass kicked in the war, the town's been nothing but a freaking tourist trap! You saw it, it's all pretty little "exotic" buildings and smiling people pandering to all the easterners coming to gawk at it! There's nothing real anymore! Everyone's afraid of attracting ShinRa's attention again, so they're all extra careful to never exercise any actual power. All our military, all our political influence, all our traditions, gone, just so we can make money without scaring ShinRa into attacking us again! Well screw that! We need to raise an army again, we need to become a real power again instead of just looking pretty for tourists! We need to stand up to ShinRa!"

"And where does the Materia come in? Equipping this army of yours?" asked Cloud.

Yuffie nodded. "We all know about Materia, unlike you easterners! We can use it, we could throw all sorts of trouble in ShinRa's way with Materia!"

"So you thought that by just picking up a few Materia here and there, you would single-handedly bring about a renaissance for your country?" Cloud said skeptically.

Yuffie fumed for a moment before answering. "Well at least I was doing something! That's more than anyone else in town could say!"

"Whatever," said Cloud. "I really don't care, we aren't taking along anyone we can't trust. And you've definitely proven that we can't trust you. End of story."

"Even if offered you something too!" said Yuffie coyly.

"You think you can bribe us?!" demanded Cloud furiously. Yuffie wordlessly reached into her pack and drew out an enormous wad of cash. "Whoa…" said Cloud, thoroughly taken aback.

"That's got to be at least a hundred thousand gil!" said Aeris, eyes wide.

"I thought you only stole Materia to help your country. You didn't say you stole money too," said Cloud, eyes never leaving the cash.

"I didn't steal it!" said Yuffie indignantly.

"Well then where did you get it?" asked Aeris. Yuffie muttered something indistinct. "What?"

"I have a rich dad, okay?" snapped Yuffie. "Now I know that money's been kinda tight for us recently, so this oughta keep us going for awhile, right? So how about it?"

"Why do you want to come with us anyway? We're not letting you have our Materia again!"  
"It was never about stealing from you! Or at least, not just about that…" said Yuffie. "You guys seem to be traveling all over the world," said Yuffie. "Seems to me that you're my best chance to run into some awesome rare Materia, even if I don't have to steal it from you. But I won't take it for myself again. So I give you the money and help you out, and you let me take any Materia I find. Whaddaya say?"

Though nearly everything in him screamed to refuse the offer, Cloud found himself sorely tempted. Though Barret and he had tried to keep it quiet, their budget had been dwindling to dangerously low levels, and with no source of income for any of them, there was no real solution in sight. Yuffie's stash would likely solve any and all monetary problems for the duration of their mission. "Assuming that she didn't steal it back along with all our Materia again," thought Cloud. He turned to Yuffie. "Three conditions. One, you give the money to Barret and me, and we do with it as we please. Two, you never so much as look at our Materia again. Three, any Materia you or any of us find is to be distributed as I see fit, and if we make it out of this alive, I'll consider letting you have some of it afterwards. That's the deal, yes or no."

"But…but…" But it was clear from the look in Cloud's eyes that he would not stand for renegotiation. "Okay, fine, it's a deal," she said, slapping the cash down in Cloud's hand. Cloud relished the feel of so much money in his hand for a moment before hiding it away in one of the deepest, most hidden pockets of his backpack.

"Nothin' like a hundred thousand gil to make someone your friend," remarked Cid. Cloud shot him an angry look. "Hey, lighten up, numbnuts. I may not have a huge wad of cash, but I've got a present for ya too."

"What?" said Cloud.

"Gimme that radio of yours." Still confused, Cloud handed over the PHS. Cid took the radio, fiddled with one of the consoles in the cockpit of his plane, then spoke into the radio. To Cloud's astonishment, the radio soon crackled with a distant, though familiar voice. "Hello? Who's there?"

"Hey sweetheart, what's happenin'?" said Cid before Cloud snatched the radio back from him. "Tifa?"

"Cloud! You're okay!"

"Sure," he said. "Everyone alright on your end?"

"Yes, we're fine! Oh, it's so good to hear your voice!"

"You too," he said genuinely.

"So where are you? What have you been doing?"

"I doubt the batteries on this thing would last long enough to tell you," said Cloud. "Are you all still in Nibelheim?"

"No, we're actually in the Gold Saucer."

"The Gold Saucer? What are you all doing back there?"

"We have a few stories of our own," said Tifa with an unusual giggle. "So are we meeting up again?"

"Yeah, we'll meet you there." He turned to Cid quickly.

"What, you want me to fly you?" said Cid, but then shrugged. "Eh, got nothin' better to do."

Cloud grinned. "We should be there in a few days."

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Eh, not my best chapter ever, but better than some. I was considering dumping Corneo and Rapps and instead doing more with Yuffie and Wutai, but, well, I didn't. I also had a big fight scene rather soon after the Rocket Town battle, and with another likely soon to come, as Dark ki reminded me. Maybe I should've done this differently, but I'm way too lazy to go back and rewrite it now. Wutai will pop up again later, anyway. I definitely enjoyed playing with the Turks here. Reno was especially fun, and I've kinda tried to set him up as a foil for Cloud, a more jovial and yet more ruthless version of the ex-SOLDIER. And Rude was just Rude, complete in bouncer attire. I also enjoyed the scene in Yuffie's room, as it shows a dimension of her personality that she never herself reveals, as well as tying into Cloud's story. I guess I didn't change too much else. I cut out the chasing Yuffie around portion, as it would be rather pointless in a story, adding little except for introducing Godo. And I had Yuffie buy her way back on the team, because let's face it, Cloud would need some serious convincing to let her back on board after all that she did. Guess that's about all there is to say. Next up, the Gold Saucer, and all the fun that ensues!


	39. Union of the Nine

Union of the Nine

As Cid had promised, the Tiny Bronco was far from sturdy during the flight, and more than once Cloud found himself clutching onto his precarious seat on the wing as the plane shuddered violently in a crosswind. Not to mention that the plane's motion did a number on his stomach, and frequently found himself vomiting over the wing, making for a thoroughly miserable flight, though he tried to hide his weakness from the others. He at least got some solace in the fact that Yuffie seemed to be suffering similarly. But though their stomachs didn't hold together, the plane did, and in a few days they found themselves once again at the foot of the massive Gold Saucer entertainment complex. Cid whistled as he looked up at the glowing series of discs branching off of the massive pillar. "Man, I heard of this place, but never thought it'd be anything like this. Like to meet the guy who designed this." Cloud nodded absently as he boarded the Ropeway cable car to take them up to the park. Aeris, Red XIII, Yuffie followed, as did Cid after a moment, and the car shuddered to life as it started its ascent. The four members of Cloud's team were this time prepared for the voiceover from "Mog the Moogle," though Cloud enjoyed Cid's vulgar response to the sickeningly cute voice nonetheless. The ride reawakened Cloud's nausea, though he was still puzzled at this, never having gotten motion sickness when younger. Still, there was no denying its presence now, and he kept his eyes resolutely shut and willed himself not to vomit once more, though at this point there wasn't much left in his stomach to lose. He opened his eyes only when he felt the car slowing, and they pulled into the familiar brightly colored station housing the entrance to the Gold Saucer.   
They were this time entering at midday instead of evening, and the formidable lines were thus even longer than Cloud remembered. At least this time he and his team had the golden tickets given them by the Gold Saucer's CEO to get them in for free. Cid had no such advantage, though thanks to Yuffie's enormous contribution to their treasury, Cloud was feeling generous enough to cover their pilot's entrance fee in exchange for the transportation he had provided. They waited their way through the enormous lines, eventually making their way up to and through the ticket stiles and into the circular antechamber that was the main nexus for the park.   
"Okay, Tifa said that they were staying in the Haunted Hotel," Cloud said. "Let's head over to the Hotel Square." The rest nodded and followed Cloud as he navigated through the crowds of people hanging about to the tube marked "Hotel Square" and jumped in. He soon found himself in a lushly decorated hotel lobby. He was about to make for the front desk, but found that it, along with the rest of the lobby, was deserted. "What the…" he muttered, but then noticed a series of doors along the side of the room, labeled with the names of different hotels, including the Haunted Hotel. Evidently, this room was just a stylishly designed antechamber. He motioned for the others to follow as he opened the door marked "Haunted Hotel," which seemed to be a set of old grilled elevator doors, and stepped inside. They found themselves, indeed, in an elevator. When they were all loaded, Cloud slid the doors closed, and the elevator started slowly descending, only to stop soon after with a creak. Cloud growled as he looked around for an assistance button, but couldn't find one. Suddenly the elevator gave a violent jolt, causing the lights to flicker and Aeris to squeal with fright. Then all was still and silent, save for a few more creaks of machinery.  
"Don't like thi—shiiiiiiit!" cried Cid as the floor suddenly vanished from beneath them and they plummeted downwards into darkness.

Cloud grunted as he hit the floor, but found that he was noticeably not dead or injured. In fact, the ground seemed quite cushioned, as if designed for this very event. "Dammit…" he muttered, as he realized that it _had_ been designed for this: it was all a stunt to go along with the hotel's haunted theme.  
"Everyone alright?" he asked, and everyone gave their assents. He rose and opened the grilled doors and entered the hotel lobby, but was impaired from examining the new surroundings when he was broadsided by a large, soft cannonball, which, as soon as Cloud regained his footing, turned out to be Tifa.   
"Hey," he said, rather taken aback.  
"Hey!" she returned brightly, hugging him.  
"What's all this for?" he asked.  
She looked confused as she shrugged. "I dunno, just happy to see you."  
"You too," he said, as she released him and he looked beyond her to see an amused looking Barret and a waving Cait Sith and Mog standing in the lobby, which seemed to be of an old, decrepit wooden hotel, complete with cobwebs in the corners and a skeleton manning the front desk. Cloud nodded at the other two as the rest of his team emerged from the elevator, and warm greetings were exchanged all around, with Barret rustling Yuffie's hair as she playfully batted his arm away, and Cait Sith chatting animatedly with Red XIII. Cloud and Barret even exchanged a firm handshake devoid of any malice, and although Cloud's hand was slightly crushed, he was willing to attribute this to Barret's extraordinary strength rather than any hostility. The only hitches were the oft-feuding Tifa and Aeris, who seemed rather cool to each other, though Cloud couldn't think what would have set them off this time, and Cid, who of course had not yet met any of the others.  
"Everybody, this is Cid Highwind. He helped us out of a tight spot in Rocket Town, and he's flown us around ever since," said Cloud.  
Cid nodded to them. "Pleased to meet ya, numbskulls!"  
"Numbskulls..?" said Tifa.  
"Hell yeah! Anyone stupid enough to go up against ShinRa nowadays has to be a numbskull! I like it!"  
"What tight spot did you run into?" Tifa asked Cloud.  
"Yeah, I guess we all have some stories to tell," said Cloud. "But we should check in first."  
"Already took care of it, chief!" said Cait Sith proudly. "The guys here know me, I went ahead and booked rooms for all of us on the cheap. C'mon, there's a lounge this way where we can talk." Cait Sith beckoned them to follow as Mog hopped toward and through a set of double doors. The other seven of them followed, and entered into a considerably more comfortable room, with old-fashioned red leather chairs and sofas atop a plush rug, though they were overlooked by a precarious-looking wooden balcony, and there were more than a few reminders of the "haunted" nature of the establishment, including ghostly wails in the background, occasional strange lights that Cloud guessed were supposed to be restless spirits of some sort, and a dark, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows at the edge of the room that Cloud suspected would pop out to scare them at some point. Cloud sat in a large recliner in the corner of the carpeted area, relieved to finally be in a seat that wasn't hurtling through space, such as Cid's plane or the Gold Saucer cable car. The others promptly followed suit, Barret plopping down in a similar chair across from him, Yuffie sprawling out over an entire couch, Red XIII and Cait Sith's moogle reclining on the carpet, and Aeris and Tifa sharing a sofa to Cloud's left, looking thoroughly uncomfortable with each other. Taking a deep breath, Cloud launched into a detailed account of his party's experiences since leaving Tifa and company at Nibelheim, including meeting Cid and Shera, escaping the ShinRa ambush, and the flight to Fen-Shi.  
"Hold up, man," said Barret to Cid. "You tellin' me this plane o' yours can fly to another damn continent?"  
"Hell yeah," said Cid as he flagrantly ignored the no-smoking policy the hotel likely held.  
"Bullshit, man, not even ShinRa can do that," said Barret. "Best they have is those helicopters, and they can't go much further than across a big city like Midgar."  
"Whaddaya mean, bullshit?!" demanded Cid. "I designed the engine myself, it's years ahead of any of the crap ShinRa's come up with. You can ask any of these suckers who were with me, they rode the damn thing."   
Barret turned to Cloud, who nodded. "Damn…" Barret said, impressed despite himself.   
Cloud prepared to continue his account, telling of Yuffie's betrayal, but here Aeris cut in. She gave a more or less accurate description of events, including the hike to Wutai and encounters with the Turks and the late Don Corneo, but neglecting Yuffie's role as catalyst of the whole mess. Cloud was irritated at this, though he understood Aeris' intent of not wanting the rest of the team to lose faith in one of their own so soon after being reunited, and let it slide for now.   
"So what about you?" he said to Tifa. "How'd you end up back here after Nibelheim?"  
"Well, nothing as exciting as what you guys went through," she said, telling of her team's largely unsuccessful exploration of Nibelheim and their subsequent decision to investigate Cait Sith's lead of the artifact from the Temple of the Ancient's supposedly in the CEO's museum.  
"Wait a minute," interrupted Cloud. "What about this guy you ran into in the ShinRa mansion?."  
"Um, yes…" said Tifa, fidgeting in her seat. "Vincent?"  
Cloud sensed motion behind him, and he turned around to see the dark figure in the shadows step forward, revealing himself to be a tall man covered almost completely in red and black rags.  
"Cloud, everybody, this is Vincent. He asked to join us to help us stop Sephiroth," she said, briefly explaining about their encounters with Vincent in the ShinRa mansion.  
Cloud felt his temper rising as he stared at the newcomer, who still looked more at home in the haunted hotel than with his team. "Tifa, can I talk to you?" he said through gritted teeth. Tifa nodded, looking nervous, and he led her into a far corner of the large room. "What the hell is this?" he demanded when they were out of earshot of the rest. "Not only do you recruit someone without telling me, but you pick some freak in a cape who you found in a fucking coffin? What were you thinking?"  
"But…he seemed to know a lot about Sephiroth, and he volunteered to help us!" protested Tifa.  
"And it didn't occur to you that those two facts didn't seem a little too convenient? Like maybe a ShinRa trap?" Cloud said furiously.  
"Of course it did! But Cloud, who on earth would think of dressing an agent like that and sticking him in a coffin in a basement? It's way too weird for ShinRa, or anyone for that matter. I think whoever Vincent is, he's for real."  
"Oh, that's great," said Cloud, throwing up his arms. "So we have a real vampire or whatever the hell he's supposed to be.   
"Well I'm sorry, Cloud, but what was I supposed to do?" said Tifa, firing up. "You left me so suddenly and the only instructions you gave were to try to find some information. Well, he's the best source of information we could find, and we tried to contact you to ask what to do, but you didn't care to pick up the radio! What did you want me to do?"  
"I was a little busy getting shot at and blown up, Tifa!" shot back Cloud. "When I split us into two teams, I assumed that you would make responsible choices on how to handle yourselves. Apparently I was wrong."  
Cloud instantly regretted these words as he saw Tifa's eyes start to water. "Well, he's your problem now, Cloud. We brought him this far, and he hasn't caused any problems, but it's your choice. You're in charge," she said in wavering voice before running off upstairs.   
"Dammit," Cloud muttered as he looked self-consciously to the rest of the team. Everyone was quickly turning away, pretending not to have seen anything, save for Barret, who appeared quite angry, and the newcomer Vincent, who was still standing in the corner of the room and seemed lost in his own thoughts. Cloud slowly walked to rejoin them.  
"What the hell'd you say to her, merc?" Barret demanded. Cloud ignored him, turning instead to Vincent. "So what's your story, then?" he asked. Vincent slowly looked up to look Cloud in the eyes, and Cloud was only half-surprised, though still shaken, as a hint of red glinted in the man's otherwise black eyes.  
"Tifa already told you," he said flatly. "And you should not upset her as you did."  
Cloud was about to retort that it was none of the man's business how he interacted with his team, but a combination of his lingering regret over his harsh words and the man's cold, red-tinted stare caused him to back down. "I'm not defending what I did, but that's not the point right now. If you want to stay with us, you'd better prove that you know something."  
"Do you not trust your comrades' judgment?" asked Vincent.   
"Mercenaries don't live very long by blindly accepting what others tell them," countered Cloud, though Vincent's words were not lost on him. Tifa was his best friend from childhood, surely her opinion should count for something? "Alright, look, you're okay for now," he said to Vincent, "but I'll be watching you. Don't get too comfortable." Vincent turned his eyes from Cloud but did not otherwise acknowledge the statement. Well, if nothing else, Cloud could certainly agree with Tifa's opinion that Vincent was not a ShinRa agent. No intelligence agency would ever train a member to act so unusually. "Okay, Barret, so what's this about the Temple of the Ancients?"  
Barret still looked aggressive, but less so since hearing Cloud openly admit fault in causing Tifa to run off in tears, and complied. "Well, Sephiroth said somethin' to Aeris here 'bout some Temple of the Ancients, an' then the cat said he remembered that Dio bastard havin' some sort o' artifact or somethin' from the temple. Tifa an' Cait Sith thought it might be worth checkin' out, since we didn' have nothin' better to do."  
"Temple of the Ancients…" Cid said thoughtfully. Everyone turned to him expectantly. "Back in Rocket Town, after I beat the crap out of that prick trying to steal my plane, Shera said that fat man Palmer was talking about using the Tiny Bronco to look for some ancient temple or something. Wonder if that's the same thing?"  
Cloud pondered this. Tifa's decision to come here to look for some artifact from a Temple of the Ancients seemed like a wild goose chase at first, but ShinRa simultaneously searching for what sounded like the same temple made things much more interesting. "What was it exactly that Sephiroth said about this temple?"  
"He said that I should leave you all and find the Temple," said Aeris quietly. "He said that the spirit of the Cetra lived on there, and there was a lot I could learn there."  
"Man, I don' get it," said Barret, shaking his head. "What does ShinRa want with this temple thing?"  
"ShinRa is pursuing Sephiroth just as we are," Red XIII reminded him. "Though the Temple is something of a tenuous lead, it is the only one we have. However, how they learned about the temple is beyond me, since they certainly were not there when we learned of it from Sephiroth."  
"I don't like it," said Cloud. Coincidences of this nature rarely boded well.  
"Hey, I don't know about any of that either, but since we're here, we might as well look into that relic, right?" said Cait Sith quickly.  
Cloud nodded. "I assume you already talked to Dio?"  
"Sure we did," said Cait Sith. "I was right, he did have it! We got a peek at it in his museum in the Battle Square, apparently it's called a Keystone. Not sure what that means, and he wouldn't tell us much more. He said he wanted to talk to you, chief."  
"Me?" said Cloud, surprised. "Why me?"  
"No idea," said Cait Sith with a shrug. "I'm just the messenger, y'know?"  
"Whatever," said Cloud. "Alright, I guess I'll head over there and take a look myself. You all just hang tight, I'll radio you as soon as I learn anything." They all nodded and Cloud rose, preparing to leave, but first he had an idea. "Barret, which room is Tifa's?"  
"47" replied Barret, and Cloud jogged up the creaky staircase and knocked on the door of Room 47. A somewhat disheveled Tifa opened the door, staring at him expectantly. Cloud cleared his throat. "I'm about to head over to check out that artifact. Just wanted to know if you wanted to tag along."  
"I'm sure you'd be much more comfortable going alone," replied Tifa stonily.  
Cloud leaned back, absently scratching his head. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you."  
"…and?" said Tifa.  
"What?"  
"Nothing, I just thought there would be more. Like maybe an actual apology," said Tifa, closing the door in his face. Cloud momentarily considered knocking again, but his irritation quickly won out over any remorse he felt, and he instead turned and quickly walked back through the lobby, ignoring the stares of his comrades, and to the elevator.

After a few moments, Tifa opened the door a crack. He was indeed gone. She slammed the door, yelling in frustration. Maybe she was expecting too much of him, expecting him to actually be human. But she paled at the thought of her own words.

Cloud somewhat roughly made his way through the crowds of people milling about in the lobby of the Battle Square to enter Dio Devari's small personal museum set off on one side. He quickly scanned the room until he found what looked like what he was looking for. He walked up to the glass case, and found himself looking at a piece of grey stone labeled as a "Keystone of the Temple of the Ancients." The stone itself was rather unremarkable, though it was in rather good shape considering its doubtless old age.

"You like that, eh?" Cloud turned to see a smiling Dio standing behind him. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Strife. I heard you might be dropping by to take a look at the Keystone."  
"Can you let me borrow it?" asked Cloud.  
"Well, normally I don't rent out irreplaceable items of significant historical import," said Dio. "Your comrades in fact asked the same thing, and I had to turn them down. But in your particular case, I may be willing to make an exception."  
"Why me?" asked Cloud.  
"I heard about the way you took down the warden of the desert prison," said Dio. "Many convicts have tried and failed to do just that, either to aid in an escape attempt or simply to assert their masculinity or some such foolishness. They've all failed, but you managed to defeat him without breaking a sweat."  
"What, so now you're going to bust me because of that?" demanded Cloud. "I thought we settled up for that whole mess!"  
"No no no, you misunderstand," said Dio, smiling. "I was quite impressed when I heard how you handled yourself. And then I thought to myself that it would be quite nice to have a real warrior such as yourself in my Battle Arena, rather than just an endless stream of wannabe actors and brainless weightlifters. And here you are."  
"What are you getting at?"  
"Fight for me," said Dio, eyes glittering. "Fight in the Battle Arena, and if I'm suitably impressed, then I'll let you have the Keystone for a while."  
"If you're 'suitably impressed'?" said Cloud. "What is that supposed to mean?"  
"Just a way to ensure that you give it your all, rather than just go through the motions like all too many of the so-called 'fighters' I have in there. Rest assured, I have no intention of wiggling out of our little contract. That is, so long as you give me a good fight."  
Cloud shrugged. Fighting was his preferred method for solving most of life's problems anyway, and combat certainly made a lot more sense to him than much of the crap that had been plaguing him on their journey. "So what do I do?"  
"Oh, it's quite simple. We'll insert a wild creature into the arena, and you simply battle it however you see fit. Then, should you defeat it, we'll send in a tougher monster, and so on until you are in turn defeated."  
"And I take it I'm in no real danger?" asked Cloud.  
"Oh my, no. We have handlers ready to intervene, we've never had anyone die in the Battle Square," said Dio. "A few close calls, maybe, a broken bone or three, I believe one fellow became partially paralyzed from a cockatrice before we could extract him, but such is the price of fame! Or the Keystone, in your case. But for the record, in case the unthinkable does occur, you do enter at your own risk."  
Cloud nodded. "Let's do it."

After a torturous wait, Cloud found himself waiting for the large iron door to the stadium to swing open. Over the last sixty minutes Cloud had been harassed by seemingly every employee of the Gold Saucer asking him what he needed and imploring him to accept equipment from their 'armory.' After browsing through the clothing, Cloud found most of it to be ridiculous costume fare, flowing capes and oversized shoulder pads, and the few articles which at first appeared to be of functional value, mostly suits of medieval-style chainmail and plate armor, upon closer inspection were revealed to be flimsy replicas, providing far more bulk and obstruction of movement than they would actual protection. As for weapons, he wouldn't for an instant consider anything but his own sword, particularly not the inferior items offered by the Gold Saucer attendants. The employees kept trying, however, insisting that he accept something to give him 'personality' and 'character,' or some such idiocy, but were eventually quelled by a supervisor who came by and informed them that Cloud's current appearance would actually be preferable. However, the employees continued to pester him with offers of refreshments, with little result than to waste his time and inspire him to begin the slaughter early. And so, after repeatedly turning down all offers of equipment with increasing irritation, Cloud approached the doors just as he had been before, black jeans and denim jacket over his white shirt and SOLDIER uniform, armed with nothing but his Buster Sword and Materia. As he waited for the door to open, he heard a loud murmur coming from the other side of the door. After listening closely, Cloud determined what it was, and cursed Dio. For it was the roar of a crowd, quite a large crowd, by the sound of it. Cloud had thought this was going to be a private fight and not a public spectacle, but there was no mistaking the hundreds of voices on the other side of the door. Well, that explained why he had been forced to wait so long: the staff had needed to stall for time to usher the audience into the arena. And then, as if to further mock him, a loudspeaker crackled above Cloud's head and on the other side of the doors as a commentator started speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you may think you have seen it all. You have, after all, watched a wise assortment of the world's finest brawlers, swordsmen, ninjas, gunmen, and assassins battle an endless variety of fearsome beasts, right here in the Gold Saucer Battle Arena. However, I can personally guarantee you that none, I say none of you, has ever witnessed anything like the battle which will unfold before your very eyes this evening. For tonight, we have managed to find a veritable champion for your entertainment. He told us nothing of his past, however, for he does not know himself! He is a man with no past, no memory, no identity, indeed, even no name! There is only one thing we do know about him, and that is that he is one of the fiercest warriors this world has ever known! Ladies and gentlemen, I direct your eyes to the arena floor for the entrance of your hero of the night. Coming to you from parts unknown, I give you: The Stranger!!!"

Before Cloud had time to become overly irritated at the thoroughly cliché, not to mention patently untrue, introduction, the iron doors slowly swung open, and he walked forward to witness seemingly thousands of people surrounding him on all sides, cheering and whistling as he entered. As he gazed at the countless strange faces, he eventually happened upon some he knew; sitting in the very bottom row of seats was the entire team. Aeris, Yuffie and Cait Sith waved enthusiastically, Cid and Red XIII nodded at him, and Barret pumped his fist in the air. Only two did not overtly respond to his gaze: Tifa and Vincent, both sitting at the end of the group, staring down impassively as he entered. Cloud nodded his acknowledgement before turning his eyes down to the empty arena floor, tuning out the crowd as he tried to detect any sign of incoming foes. Such measures proved quite unnecessary, however, as the irritating announcer did his job for him.

"First up against The Stranger we bring a forest-dwelling menace from the Junon region. It's big, it's green, it's butt-ugly, and it has the ability to ensnare and incapacitate all but the most agile warriors! It's the chatterpillar!"  
Cloud rolled his eyes. An overgrown worm was his opponent? But then, Dio had said that the enemies would scale up in difficulty. He patiently waited as a door on the far side of the arena opened, and the huge caterpillar slowly wriggled in, rear end first and head behind in an unusual evolutionary occurrence. As the announcer had stated, it was a large green creature, about the size of two men, and was able to quickly spray a spider-web like substance to trap its prey. Cloud watched silently as the worm crawled forward, its raised head on the far side of its body eying him hungrily. He had never fought one of these before, but he had a fairly good idea of what to expect. He waited until the creature stopped, then instantly leapt up and forward as the sticky web sprayed forward, coating the area where he had just been. Flying through the air towards the creature, Cloud whipped out his sword and swung it forward, the power of his swing augmented by his forward motion, and the blade sliced cleanly through the creature's head. He felt no need to turn around after he landed; the crowd's silence followed by uproar confirmed that the worm was dead.  
"…well well! That was quick, wasn't it?" said the announcer, sounding genuinely taken aback. "Clearly the Stranger is the real deal! But will he perform so well against his next opponent? Let's find out!"

Eight monsters later, Cloud still found himself standing in the arena, victorious against everything the Gold Saucer had been able to throw at him. The creatures had indeed gotten tougher. The last fight had been against a desert-dwelling creature called a chimera after the mythological creature, a three-headed menace that was exceptionally nimble in its native sandy terrain, and even more so on firm ground. Cloud had a few gashes from its four sets of claws and three sets of teeth, but had prevailed through a combination of ice magic to slow the creature down enough to catch it with his massive blade. And so he found himself still standing, albeit significantly winded and thoroughly drenched in various types of blood, including his own. He turned his eyes up to the stands. Barret and Cid looked to be thoroughly appreciating the bloodshed and cheered him on enthusiastically. Yuffie also looked to be enjoying the show, although not as much as the bloodthirsty men. Aeris looked downcast at the butchery, Cloud was sorry to see, although she quickly displayed a smile when she caught his gaze. Cloud was surprised to see that Cait Sith also looked less than happy at the spectacle, but had little time to remark on this as the announcer cut in over the roaring crowd.   
"Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever seen such a warrior? The Stranger has defeated all comers, and is still standing! We have absolutely nothing else to pit him agains…wait a minute, I'm getting word that we do in fact have one more monster in store! It's one that you've never seen here in the Gold Saucer, because no one has ever been strong enough to reach it! You have all heard stories of the Great Sephiroth's prowess in battle-" Cloud's ears immediately perked up at this- "how he single-handedly defeated hundreds of men and monsters alike. Perhaps you heard of his triumphs over the mighty Behemoth?" It was two Behemoths, actually, Cloud thought. But surely they didn't have…  
"Well here at the Gold Saucer, we have none other than one of these same fearsome monsters to face The Stranger in mortal combat! Will The Stranger prove himself an equal to Sephiroth himself? There's only one way to find out! And so here it is, the Behemoth!!!"  
Cloud stared in disbelief as the far door swung open and out stepped an enormous purple quadruped with foot-long horns, blood red mane, and claws and teeth that were the stuff of nightmares. Cloud couldn't believe the Gold Saucer had actually acquired one. The beasts known simply as Behemoths were found only in the frigid northern climates, and were notoriously fierce in battle. Supposedly the chieftain of some northern tribe of natives had taken one as a mount, but this practice was soon dicontinued when the chieftain was eaten by his noble steed. Granted the beast before Cloud was smaller than the average specimen, but this meant only that it was nine times the size of a human rather than ten. The Behemoth gave a thunderous roar, causing nearly all the women and some of the men in the crowd to cry out themselves as it gazed at Cloud through red slits of eyes. Cloud stared right back as he shrugged off his denim jacket, which was by now soaked stiff with blood, leaving only his tattered white T-shirt and SOLDIER uniform underneath. He drew the Buster Sword from his back and assumed a standard defensive fugue guard, waiting for the beast's attack.   
The Behemoth obliged, letting out another earth-shaking roar as it charged forward. The beast's mass belied the speed granted it by its massive muscles, and Cloud barely had time to dive aside as the Behemoth tore through the place he had been standing, horns first. He rolled to his knees, only to have to leap over the creature's huge tail as it swept across the floor. He landed with bent knees, and used this to spring forward in an attack at the creature's undefended backside, scoring a light cut along its back, but this caused the Behemoth to rear up on its hind legs, catching Cloud unprepared and throwing him backwards to the floor. Dazed at this unexpected turn of events, Cloud recovered himself after a moment only to see the Behemoth turned around and flying towards him like a runaway boulder down a mountainside. Cloud could do nothing but log roll to the side, leaving his sword behind as the Behemoth missed him by mere inches. He started to rise, but was caught this time by the Behemoth's tail, and was thrown to hit the wall of the arena with a grunt. He looked up to see the Behemoth again charging. Spitting out blood and a curse, Cloud leapt straight up as high as he could, sustaining a gash from one of the beasts vicious horns as he avoided its maw and tumbled down its back. Paying no mind to the fresh gash in his chest, Cloud hit the ground running, sprinting headlong straight for his discarded sword, keenly aware of the thunderous footfalls of the beast growing louder from behind. As soon as his fingers grasped the sword, Cloud without warning dove to the side, yet again barely avoiding the enormous beast's charge. Cloud roughly rolled to his feet, following this up not with an attack, but with a leap straight backwards, out of the Behemoth's immediate range, to regroup.   
Cloud hated to admit it, but he was outclassed here. The Behemoth was nearly as fast as the Chimera, but was far stronger. It had proven readily able to effortlessly batter Cloud around, wearing him down while denying him any opportunity to bring his massive blade into play. Cloud pondered for a moment trying to switch strategies and assault the beast with magic from afar. "No," he said to himself. Sephiroth had been able to defeat not one, but two Behemoths with nothing but his blade, and Cloud could damn well do the same. He had to do the same. He again brought his sword in front of him, squaring his feet and staring straight into the eyes of the Behemoth. "Bring it on." The beast roared and lunged forward.

Tifa flinched with every hit Cloud took: he was getting torn to shreds out there, and had only landed a few glancing blows which had failed to even slow the massive beast. Dio had told them all of his and Cloud's deal; Cloud didn't have to win every battle, he only had to give the crowd a good show, which he had certainly already done. He could simply take a fall and Dio would still gladly hand over the Keystone, and she fervently wished that Cloud would do so. But of course, Cloud could never simply surrender. Especially against a Behemoth, one of the most fearsome beasts against with Sephiroth had tested himself. Cloud had to prove himself equal to the infamous SOLDIER-turned-murderer, a man created for the very purpose of being the most powerful human alive. Even as a child, it had been Cloud's dream to be the next Sephiroth, and here he was still, battling a beast ten times his size, because Sephiroth had once done the same. "Dammit Cloud, why do you have to be so proud?"

Though he was able to avoid the beast's horns, the Behemoth's massive head connected directly with Cloud and hurled him yet again straight into a wall. He hit the wall flat on his back and could swear he heard something crack before he slumped down. But before he could even register any pain from potential broken bones the beast was coming in hard again. Cloud let his feet fall from under him and slid down to lie prone on the floor as the Behemoth's horns rammed into the wall. He was in an ideal position to attack the beast's undefended underbelly, but there was no room to wield his sword, and so he rolled out from under the Behemoth just as it laid down flat in an attempt to crush him. Cloud shot up to his feet and raised his sword high above his head, ignoring the screaming pain in his torso, and brought his blade down with all his strength. The Behemoth cried out as the first deep cut it had received cleaved into its thigh, and immediately batted out at Cloud with a huge claw, throwing him backwards. But Cloud was immediately back up, and the two charged straight at each other, both roaring with in blind rage.

Aeris felt Cloud's pain almost as intensely as if it were her own, yet she did not for a moment turn her eyes from the battle. Whenever they had been in battle before she had been too busy to really observe him, but now when she was in no real danger, she watched him with a critical gaze. She was no expert in the martial arts, but there was something about the way he moved, the way he fought, that struck a chord somewhere deep inside her. And his sword, that was so familiar to her. Of course, Cloud and her old boyfriend, Zack Verrsel, would have received the same combat training and possibly the same equipment, both being swordsmen in SOLDIER. But though some of Cloud's movements were new to her, many of them mirrored Zack's in unnervingly exact detail. But there was something else, too. Cloud always fought to win, she well knew, but now there was a ferocity, a desperation in his actions that she had never seen before. It was as if he was fighting not just to win a battle, not even to prove his own abilities, but fighting to assert his identity, his very soul.

Blood flowed freely from his many wounds. He didn't care. All that mattered was the ichors covering his sword, dripping to the ground. The blood of his enemy, the enemy which still drew breath. He raised his sword and charged, ignoring the myriad protests of his tired muscles and bruised and lacerated skin. The Behemoth mirrored him, barreling straight for him. He kept running forward, staring into the beast's reddened eyes all the while, then at the last moment leapt up and to the side, holding his blade out to slash the Behemoth's face as he sailed past. But his body refused to let this happen. His muscles were too tired, his leap not powerful enough to carry him far enough to the side, his arms to weary to lift his heavy sword quickly enough. The Behemoth promptly swung its head to the side, catching him square in the side with its horn. He cried out in pain as the horn passed cleanly through his side, carrying a sizeable chunk of flesh with it, and he tumbled to the ground, bleeding. He slowly raised his head to see the Behemoth turning to face his prone figure and lower its head to bring its fangs to bear and finish the job. So be it.  
But death did not come. The Behemoth suddenly started trembling, roaring out in pain. And then it was all over, as handlers emerged from all sides, tazers in hand, to restrain the beast and lead it out of the arena. He heard the announcer speaking over the loudspeaker, but the words had no meaning for him. He just lay and bled. 

After being retrieved from the floor, Cloud was carried out of the arena on a stretcher and his wounds quickly attended to by the Gold Sacuer's medical team. Though he had sustained many injuries, none of them were critical, and none serious in nature except for the last hit in his side. This was good; even with healing Materia, it was much easier to heal a series of scratches and bruises than to regenerate a single lost limb. He lay there as his wounds were treated, staring up at the ceiling. Dio eventually paid him a visit, applauding his abilities and placing the Keystone with his belongings, as well as making him a lucrative offer should he decide to return to the arena. Cloud didn't respond. After an hour, he was released from the medical wing of the Battle Square in a reasonably presentable condition, though still wearing hospital scrubs, as his shirt had been thoroughly destroyed, and his jacket and jeans were in tatters, not to mention saturated with blood. After walking in a daze for awhile, Cloud became aware that someone was walking with him, and turned to see Tifa at his side. "What are you doing here?" he asked dully.  
"Well, you did get your ass kicked in there. I figured it would be good if someone were here to make sure you weren't dead," Tifa said. Cloud looked away. "…I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she said. "You…you did really well, Cloud. You blew us all away in there. Even Barret was singing your praises afterwards, though he'd never say anything to your face."  
"And how about Vincent?" asked Cloud, his voice dull but the point made nonetheless.  
"I don't know, he doesn't talk much," said Tifa, uneasy about this turn in the conversation. "Cloud, I'm sorry about Vincent. I didn't mean to step on your authority, it's just that we couldn't get in touch with you, and we couldn't find any other leads, so I figured we should follow through on what we had."  
Cloud nodded, saying nothing. On some level he appreciated what she was saying, but he didn't have the emotional capacity to care much at the moment. He was still far too preoccupied with the battle – and with his failure.

The two of them made their way back to the Haunted Hotel to find the rest of the team waiting for them in the lounge, though Yuffie was looking quite restless.  
"'Bout time! These losers made me wait for you! I wanna get out and see the Gold Saucer again!" said Yuffie, before being shushed by Aeris.  
"That was some fighting, kid," said Cid, lounging back on a sofa. "Me and Barret was talkin' about it, ain't seen nothin' like it, right?"  
"Huh? Yeah, you was alright, spiky-ass," said Barret grudgingly.  
"Kinda reminded me of when I saw some guys from SOLDIER fightin' over in Fen-Shi," continued Cid.  
"Well, it should. He was in SOLDIER, after all," said Aeris, though with a strange note in her voice that Cloud couldn't identify.  
"You were a SOLDIER? And now you're fightin' ShinRa?" said Cid, surprised. Cloud nodded. "Alright, that's it, I wanna know what the hell's goin' on here! Who the hell are you guys, and what are you doing fighting ShinRa and Sephiroth?"  
"Yeah, give us the run-down, Cloud! I haven't been with you as long as Barret and Tifa, so I don't really understand everything," said Cait Sith.  
"Shit, man, I been here since the beginning, an' I still don' know what the hell's goin' on!" said Barret.   
"That makes two of us," thought Cloud, but didn't say so. He really didn't feel like being social at the moment, much less giving a prolonged narrative of their journey so far. If it was only Cid asking he would refuse offhand, seeing as the pilot still hadn't joined them, and he was skeptical about giving details in front of the mysterious Vincent anyway, but he supposed that the rest of them deserved to know as much as he did. But still, he definitely wasn't in the mood. He turned to Tifa, still standing beside him. "Can you handle it?"  
Tifa looked surprised. "Um, I can try," she said, and, assisted by Aeris and the occasional aside from Yuffie, gave a quick synopsis of their battle against ShinRa in Midgar and their journeys since.  
"Man, you guys get around, don't you?" said Cid when they had finished.  
"But you never did tell us exactly why you are pursuing Sephiroth," said Vincent, breaking his silence. "What are his motivations? What does he hope to accomplish?" Tifa and Aeris both turned to Cloud, expectantly.   
Cloud shook his head. "I wish I knew," he said after a moment. "At first I thought he was on some vendetta against humanity to kill us all, but he hasn't really done much indiscriminate killing since we've been following him. When we were back at ShinRa H.Q. in Midgar, Sephiroth killed the Preisdent soon after he announced that he was planning to use Aeris to find the Ancients' Promised Land, so maybe that has something to do with it. And recently Sephiroth mentioned this Temple of the Ancients to Aeris for whatever reason, your guess is as good as mine. At this point, I really don't know what he's planning. All I know is that I have to stop him."  
"This quest of yours seems quite an undertaking considering that you do not even know what is at stake," remarked Vincent from his refuge at the edge of the stairway's shadows.   
"Well, I guess we've all got our reasons," said Aeris. Cloud nodded, thinking of Yuffie's recent revelation about her search for Materia. Vincent said nothing.  
"So that's it, then? You're after some psycho superman with the evil mega-corporation on your tails just because?" asked Cid. "Eh, something to do, I guess. So where are you off to next?"  
"I…don't know," said Cloud, realizing it for the first time himself. They turned to him. "Usually, I can tell where Sephiroth is going, I just…know. But now I've got no idea where he's going, or what to do next."   
This announcement was greeted with silence. Ever since losing Sephiroth on the ship to Costa del Sol, they had depended almost exclusively on Cloud's intuition to guide them. Without it, they were completely aimless.  
"Well, it's getting late, anyway," ventured Cait Sith. "Why don't we just sleep on it, and then figure it all out tomorrow?"  
"Hey, yeah!" said Yuffie.   
Cloud knew that after his illness aboard the airplane and his recent injuries, he desperately needed a good night's sleep in a real bed, but he even more wanted to get back on the trail after the unwelcome diversion in Wutai. But there was no denying the fact that even if they did get on the road tonight, he didn't have a clue where to go. He didn't like it, hated it in fact, but there seemed to be no alternative. "Fine, we'll stay here for the night," he said quietly.  
"Cait Sith, you said you got us rooms?" asked Aeris  
"Done and done!" said the cat brightly. "You're all set! But hey, Cloud, let's have a look at that Keystone you won us!"  
Without a word Cloud drew out the unremarkable grey stone and showed it to them.  
"That's it?" said Cid. "Looks like just a rock to me. What's so special about it?"  
"Don't know," said Cloud, feeling no curiosity about it. But he noticed Aeris staring at it intently, as if transfixed.  
"Cloud, could I see it?" she asked. He got up and handed it to her. She cradled it gently in her hand. "I've never had something from the Cetra before," she said quietly.  
"Do you know what to do with it?" asked Red XIII.  
"No…not yet," she said slowly. "Cloud, could I hold onto it for awhile?" He shrugged, not much caring what happened to the artifact he had just risked his life to win. There were far greater worries on his mind. 

iiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii  
…and they're all together at last, though they're hardly a coherent, functional team. But my writing seems to thrive on dysfunctional relationships, so that works. So let's see, what to comment on..? I guess aside from the usual expansion and explanation, along with the requisite foreshadowing, the only really new thing I added here was the spat between Cloud and Tifa. It was pretty much inevitable, given Cloud's personality and the way earlier events had unfolded, but I had problems figuring out exactly what to do with it. Anyway, hopefully it helped to flesh out their relationship a bit, something that hasn't really been dealt with much so far. Not much else to say, except that we all know what's coming next, and as I wasn't really happy with how the game did it, I'm planning on nearly completely rewriting it. Stay tuned…


	40. To Meet You

To Meet You

Cloud's mind was not a good place to be at the moment, clouded as it was with dark thoughts racing through as he lay on his bed. The Behemoth, a smaller one at that, had defeated him. He had attempted to follow in Sephiroth's footsteps, and failed yet again. _Again? Why did this seem familiar?_ Cloud had fought hard, had given it his all, and it hadn't been enough. In the end he had been too injured, too weary to finish it. His arms had simply lacked the strength to wield his sword with sufficient alacrity. "And no wonder, with a massive blade like that," he thought sourly. Certainly it had the power to cleave through almost anything, but it was so heavy as to be quickly exhausting in prolonged combat. Why had he chosen such an unwieldy weapon in the first place, anyway? Sephiroth's weapon had been extremely long, but it was very thin and light, easy to quickly manipulate given that one could handle its length. If he was as enamored with Sephiroth as he knew he was a child, wouldn't Cloud have chosen a lighter blade like a rapier or saber? Or at least something lighter than the massive broadsword he had now? But try as he might, he couldn't remember what had led him to pick the Buster Sword as his weapon of choice.

And what had happened to intuitive knowledge of Sephiroth's path? Though the seemingly mystical connection between the two of them had been a constant source of unease for Cloud, it had been undeniably convenient in tracking the killer. Without it, Cloud didn't know what to do, where to go, and he seriously doubted that sleeping on it, as Cait Sith suggested, would help in the least.

He was awakened from his doze by a knock on the door of his room. "What?" he called out. Someone tried to open the door: fruitlessly, as Cloud had of course locked it the moment he entered.

"Cloud, it's me," called Aeris' voice. Grumbling, Cloud rose slowly from his bed, crossed over to the door and opened it, before promptly turning his back and lying down again. "Well, good evening to you, too," said Aeris, clearly miffed.

"What do you want?" said Cloud, eyes resolutely locked on the ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

"I nearly got killed, by an animal that Sephiroth easily defeated no less, not to mention that after wasting however much time we did in Fen-Shi, I have no clue where to go to catch up with Sephiroth. What the hell do you think is wrong?"

Aeris sighed. "Cloud, I know you're worried, and I know the depressive brooding thing is your idiom and all, but please do me a favor and don't do it. Not tonight."

"Why not tonight?" asked Cloud in a monotone.

"We're spending the night in the biggest amusement park in the world! For one night, one single night, we're in a place that is designed for the exclusive purpose of having fun; you might as well take advantage of it!"

"And how exactly should I take advantage of it?" asked Cloud, making sure his voice was as flat as possible to convey his complete lack of interest.

"Well, I was thinking we could go out."

"Go out and do what?" said Cloud.

"…I don't know, anything, nothing, it doesn't matter."

"You're not telling me very much."

Aeris sighed in exasperation. "You know, Cloud, I figured I'd have trouble convincing you on this, but I didn't think the problem would be describing the concept to you." She cleared her throat. "Cloud Strife, do you want to go on a date?"

That got Cloud to look up at last, and he was both very glad and very sorry that he did. Aeris was standing there before him, but not like he had ever seen her before. Instead of her usual pink housedress, she was clad in a sleeveless, flowing white dress, simple but stylish. Her usually tied hair was let down, flowing smoothly all the way down the open back of her dress. Her face, too, was different, and Cloud eventually noticed that this was because it was subtly made up. While many women practically lived their lives in makeup, vanity was hardly a concern on their journey, and he had thus never seen her with cosmetics of any sort. Not that she really needed them anyway, but still, they certainly made a difference.

A smile crept onto Aeris' face as she saw the effect she was having on him, and it was then that Cloud realized that he was unabashedly staring. He forced his eyes to their normal width and adopted what he hoped was a nonchalant look. He was suddenly struck by a keen feeling that he was in over his head. "A…date?" he said dumbly.

"Yes, a da-te!" said Aeris slowly. "You know, guy and girl go out, eat dinner, talk, have fun, all that? I owe you one, right?"

"Huh?"

"The deal, right? You'd be my bodyguard in exchange for a date?" she said with a sly smile. "Well, you protected me back there, and I never got a chance to pay you back until now."

"Oh," said Cloud, remembering the deal she had proposed back in Midgar. So that was what this was about. "Don't worry about it."

"Hm?" said Aeris, apparently not expecting this.

"The deal. I never really agreed to it, so you don't owe me anything. The bodyguard thing is on the house."

"Okay…" said Aeris, before spinning on her toe and walking out the door. Cloud immediately thought that that had been too easy, and indeed, not two seconds passed before there was another knock on the door. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah?"

Aeris opened the door and stepped in once more. "Hey Cloud, do you wanna go out?"

"But I just said…"

"I know what you said Cloud, I was here, remember?" said Aeris. "This time, I'm not asking because I feel 'obligated', I'm asking because I want to. So do you?"

"Aeris, I'm really not in the mood," he said.

Aeris spoke somewhat impatiently. "Cloud, look, there will be plenty of time for you to beat yourself up over things that are completely not your fault later, but this is the only night off we're likely to have for a long time. Now if you honestly would rather sit here and bask in gloom, then that's fine. But if I know you like I think I do, I don't think you're really like that."

"And just how well do you think you know me?" Cloud wanted to ask, but then it occurred to him that given Aeris' knack for unnerving insight, he might not want to know the answer. "You aren't going to drop this, are you?" he asked.

"All you have to do is say no, and I'm out the door," she replied.

Cloud opened his mouth, but strangely found something stopping him from pronouncing the monosyllabic word. The thought of spending the night amidst the oppressive commercialized giddiness of the Gold Saucer was practically nauseating, and Cloud found that his room, lovingly decorated as a faux torture chamber to suit the hotel's motif, suited his mood much better. But at the same time he realized a strange thing; he didn't want to be alone. And furthermore, it was her company that he wanted.

"Can we just…stay here?" he asked.

"In your room? Sorry, Cloud, but I'm not that kind of girl."

"That's not what I--"

"Nope, not an option. Get ready, we're going out!"

And so Cloud found himself accompanying Aeris out of the hotel and back to the golden-walled enormous main lobby. The day was waning into mid-evening, but the lobby was still quite crowded, though the main populace seemed to be less giddy children and more affluent young adults, likely bound for the casinos and racetracks.

"So I see you got some new clothes, too. I'm flattered," said Aeris.

Cloud spared a glance down at his new wardrobe, blue jeans and a lightweight black leather jacket. "Well, my old clothes were torn to shreds. What's your excuse?"

"I don't need an excuse to get new clothes; I'm a girl," Aeris said with dignity. Cloud snorted.

"So, where are we going?" asked Aeris.

Cloud shrugged. "This is your gig, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. I just thought I'd give you a chance to be the man." She sighed. "Okay, so I'm guessing that except for getting clothes, you've been moping in your room ever since we all left the lounge, so you probably haven't eaten, right?" Cloud's cross expression answered her question. "Alright, I saw a pretty nice-looking Junese place if you're up for it."

"Works for me."

They made their way to the restaurant, where the black-vested and white-shirted host made sure they noted his disapproval of Cloud's casual attire before leading the two to their seats. Aeris ordered a glass of red wine, and while Cloud felt that straight liquor would do him several worlds of good in his current situation, a long dormant sense of propriety seemed to have awoken in him, and he requested that some soda be included in his drink as well.

Aeris took a sip of her wine and smiled. "It's been a long time since I've had any of this," she said, gently swirling her glass.

"Didn't get much in the way of fine wines in the slums, I guess," Cloud remarked. Her face fell at this, though he couldn't think of why. But she immediately picked herself up and looked at him with a dangerously sweet smile.

"Been a while since I did this, too," she said brightly. "Although not nearly as long. There was this one guy, just a few weeks before I met you, I think. He was poor too, so no _wine_ or anything, but a really _nice_ guy, you know?"

Cloud nodded to this, feeling a strange stab at his stomach, and said nothing, prompting a few moments' strained silence.

Aeris cleared her throat. "So, how long has it been for you? Since your last date, I mean," she said in a softer tone. Cloud opened his mouth to reply, when he realized that he had no good answer. "No..!" said Aeris in disbelief.

"What?"

"You've never been on a date???" asked Aeris. Cloud didn't respond, save to silently curse her borderline mind-reading abilities. "Cloud, shame on you!"

"For what?" Cloud said defensively.

"For denying the women of the world of your company for so long! And for denying yourself of so much!"

"So I've missed out on romance and all the shit that comes along with it. I'll live."

"Most people wouldn't be so quick to dismiss all that 'shit,'" said Aeris. "Besides, dating isn't just about romance."

Cloud gave her his best look of skepticism. "Oh really?"

"Of course not! It's about learning about someone else, and learning about yourself, in a way you never could otherwise. It's about having fun and living for the moment, it's about being young and everything that it means! I mean, Cloud, you were in such a hurry to become a SOLDIER and become a man, that you missed out on everything good that happens beforehand!"

Cloud shrugged, though he couldn't keep himself from pondering the truth of her words. Had he erred by committing himself to a military lifestyle so early in his life?

"Doesn't really matter now, anyway," he said, speaking to himself as much as to Aeris. "I am who I am, right? And don't feel like there's so much I've missed out on in SOLDIER."

"But Cloud, there's so much more to life than what you can learn in the military!" said Aeris emphatically. Cloud suddenly started chuckling. "What??" said Aeris, thrown off her rhythm.

"Sorry, you just really reminded me of my mother just then," replied Cloud.

"Oh…"

"She thought the same way as you, used to tell me over and over that there was 'more to life than fighting.' She also kept telling me that I should find myself a girlfriend. An older girlfriend," said Cloud, looking pointedly at Aeris. She smiled, but didn't leap on the bait as he had half-expected.

"Tell me about your mother, Cloud. If it's not too hard, that is."

Cloud assured her that it was fine before pausing to ponder how to succinctly describe the only parent he had ever known. "She was…sad," he said at last.

"Sad?" prompted Aeris.

Cloud nodded. "My father died soon after I was born. Some rare strain of the Irascian Flu that no one had ever seen. They had to quarantine him until he died, so she didn't even get to see him towards the end."

"That's terrible," said Aeris. "So you don't remember your father at all?"

"No. Anyway, she never remarried, didn't go out much at all. I guess she sort of withdrew from the world after that."

"But she still had you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and she cared for me like any mother. More, maybe, since I was all she had. But still, it always seemed like as much as she loved me, I saddened her at the same time."

"Maybe you reminded her of your father?" said Aeris carefully.

"Probably. But there was something else too," Cloud said thoughtfully. "Like she wasn't only sad for herself, but sorry for me, too."

"Why would she be sorry for you?" asked Aeris.

"I don't know, it's always puzzled me. I had a pretty good childhood, I think. Sure, I didn't know my father, but I never knew him in the first place, so I didn't really miss him at all. And I had plenty of friends, lots of…things to do and whatnot. But Mom always seemed to feel sad on my behalf, and I've never figured out why…" Cloud was startled out of his reverie as Aeris brushed his hand briefly with hers, giving him a small, sympathetic smile. He surprised himself by returning the smile, then promptly threw back the rest of his drink and gestured to the waiter for another. "So what about your mother? Your real mother, I mean," he asked Aeris.

Now it was Aeris' turn to pause, as she gazed down into her scarlet glass. "I don't remember much, I was so young when she passed. Just impressions, emotions, a few images. I remember she had the most brilliant green eyes you've ever seen, but more than that, she seemed to…glow, almost. Maybe that's just my imagination, or maybe it was some trace of the Cetra, I don't know. But she was beautiful, almost unearthly. And I remember that whenever I was with her, everything felt…right. We must have been in danger almost the whole time, with the ShinRa after us, but whenever I was with her, I was never afraid. I just knew that somehow, everything would be alright."

Cloud nodded. "Sounds like you really take after her," he said, determinedly looking off into the distance. When Aeris didn't respond, he turned his eyes back to see her staring unabashedly at him, mouth slightly open. "…What?" he said.

"Cloud, I think that was the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," said Aeris. Discomfited, Cloud nodded acknowledgement to her remark and looked away, only to have her grasp his hand. "Cloud, I mean it. Thank you."

Cloud promptly snatched his hand back, muttering something indistinct. He cleared his throat. "So what's everyone else up to tonight?"

"I don't know. Cait Sith thankfully bunked Tifa and Yuffie together this time, so I have my own room. I haven't really seen much of the others, although Yuffie, Cid and Barret left pretty soon after you exiled yourself in your room. Not together," she amended, grinning at the thought of such a trio.

"What's up with the two of you, anyway?" asked Cloud. "You and Tifa, I mean."

"Hm?"

"Why do the two of you fight so much?"

"Fight? We don't fight," replied Aeris, a queer smile sneaking onto her face.

"Excuse me?" said Cloud skeptically. "You're telling me you two don't clash every once in a while?"

"Oh, we have our problems from time to time. But who doesn't? I mean, look at you and Barret."

"You're avoiding the question," observed Cloud. Aeris sighed and looked away, the strange grin still on her face.

"You really don't know women at all, do you Cloud?"

"Apparently not," replied Cloud, wondering if that was such a bad thing.

A more carefree mood prevailed over the rest of the meal thanks to more innocuous topics of discussion, though Cloud did note some odd behavior from Aeris. He occasionally caught her observing him closely, scrutinizing him, as if trying to discover some secret about him, but he could not figure out why. Perhaps it was due to her ever-contagious bright mood, or the increasing amounts of alcohol he was consuming, most likely a combination of the two, but Cloud felt he really didn't care much. His previous dark mood had almost completely dissipated, replaced by a pleasant relaxation the likes of which he hadn't felt for a long while.

"So what's next?" said Aeris brightly at the end of the meal.

"What do you mean?" asked Cloud.

"The night is still young! Where are we going next? And if you suggest your room again, you're getting smacked," she said, brandishing a finger warningly.

Cloud chuckled. "Well, as you so sensitively pointed out, I don't have a lot of experience in the whole dating scene, so I don't know what to suggest. What's supposed to happen now?"

"Hmm…" said Aeris, chin on her hand in a mock-thoughtful position. "Well, I guess that would depend on whether or not things are going well so far. So what do you think, Cloud? Is tonight a success for the most part?"

Cloud shrugged. "Could be worse," he said nonchalantly, but could not suppress a smile belying his lack of enthusiasm.

"Hard to please, aren't we?" remarked Aeris jokingly. "Just have to try that much harder, I guess. Anyway, I saw some ads for a play that's on tonight. It's that one that's big in Midgar, and it's on tour now evidently. What do you think?"

Cloud's initial thought was to respond with a strong negative, but to his surprise a play sounded quite appealing. "What the hell?" thought Cloud. He hated theatre…didn't he? He shook his head briefly, dispelling his self-doubt. "I…I'm not really big on plays."

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun! And I don't hear you coming up with any other ideas!"

Cloud had no answer for this, and so remained bemusedly silent as Aeris grabbed his hand and led him out of the restaurant and off to the Event Square.

The all-purpose stadium in which the play was being shown was already packed with people when Cloud and Aeris arrived, and for a moment Cloud had a half-hearted hope that they might be out of tickets. But evidently there were still some empty seats interspersed throughout the throng of people occupying the stadium, as the employee accepted his money and handed over two tickets, wishing them a pleasant evening. Cloud nodded and walked over to one of the many ushers, who directed them to their seats. As the two of them made their way through the crowd and took their seats, Cloud couldn't help but notice the large proportion of happy, young couples that made up the audience, and realized with a jolt that he and Aeris would be indistinguishable from any of them. Anyone looking at the two of them would assume they were just another "item" instead of…what? What exactly was their relationship?

There had always been small flirtations passing between them, even he wasn't blind enough to completely miss that. But he had always just accepted this as the normal dynamic of their friendship; the thought of them being an actual couple was ridiculous…wasn't it? But Aeris had specifically sought out him and no one else to spend the evening with, not to mention the considerable effort she had gone through to prepare herself for the occasion. And furthermore, he had agreed to go out with her, realizing that despite his solitary leaning and dismal mood, he really did want to be with her. Cloud was forced to admit, the distinctions between whatever he and Aeris shared and a true "relationship" were becoming fewer and fewer.

And what did that mean, he wondered as he stared at the lush red curtains concealing the stage. Surely most guys would give anything to be in his position right now, and even he wasn't immune to their reasoning. But there was so much more to it, and he was relieved when the dimming lights saved him the problem of thinking about it. He suddenly realized that he didn't know anything about the play he was about to see. Looking around, he spied a program lying on the floor and picked it up. The cover depicted a woman dressed in a fancy red dress of a style fashionable several decades ago, above which was written the title "Loveless."

When the curtains closed, Aeris and Cloud joined the rest of the crowd in an awed silence before bursting into thunderous applause, Cloud's applause as heartfelt as anyone's. As they started to file out of the stadium, Cloud struggled to figure out exactly how he felt about the play in preparation for when Aeris inevitably asked. But when he looked over at her, he saw that she was for once appeared to be as much at a loss for words as he. After a few moments Cloud realized that his gaze was lingering on her, and promptly looked away before she noticed.

They left the stadium, and the spell cast by the play faded sufficiently for Aeris to turn to Cloud and start discussing the play. Cloud found himself surprisingly conversant in the ideology and terminology of theatre, and was able to fully keep up with Aeris, though he still wasn't sure exactly how he personally felt about what he had just witnessed.

They found themselves wandering aimlessly through the various structures adorning the Event Square. Save for the dancehalls, which were still booming and thumping, the area was mostly deserted by now due to the late hour. Cloud calculated that it must be about an hour shy of midnight.

Aeris suddenly yawned, stretching out luxuriantly. "Well, I'd say tonight has been a success, how about you?"

"What, is it over already?" asked Cloud, giving her a sideways smile.

Aeris looked at him in surprise. "Well, I don't know…what did you have in mind?" she asked, clearly intrigued.

"How about that?" replied Cloud, pointing up. Aeris turned her eyes upwards to see a gondola slowly moving along a wire suspended high above the park. "Should be quite a view, right?"

"Yeah…" said Aeris, staring at Cloud as if never having seen him before, until a smile slowly broke out onto her face. "Yeah, that would be great."

A short walk and another tube ride later found them at the Tour Square, where a small line of people stood in line to board one of the gondola cars for an aerial tour of the Gold Saucer. Again, Cloud's attention was drawn to the makeup of the crowd, which was again mostly young couples, and he again felt a peculiar jab of emotions that he could not satisfactorily identify. When they reached the front of the line, Cloud handed over money for two tickets and Aeris and he climbed aboard the patiently waiting gondola car, a prettily decorated vehicle with a comfortable faux-wood interior and two plush leather benches on opposite sides of the car. Aeris settled down on one, and Cloud had a brief moment of strife, wondering if he should sit beside her or opposite her, but his caution won out and he dropped to the seat across from her. A few moments later the gondola shuddered and took off, slowly rising up into the night sky.

Cloud worried momentarily that his recently discovered motion sickness would kick in, but the gondola's motion proved too gradual and subtle to bother him, and he was able to sit back and relax somewhat, though his mind was still rather preoccupied with trying to come to terms with his thoroughly unexpected current situation. He glanced over at Aeris, who was turned around and looking out the window.

"Wow! Cloud, look!" she said. Cloud complied, turning and looking out his own window.

"Whoa…" he murmured, as the myriad lights of the Gold Saucer slowly rolled by under them. They were still rising, but not yet high enough to lose sight of individuals. There was a crowd watching a rock show with multicolored searchlights lacing out into the sky, a magnificent roller coaster shooting over, under and around a lavishly technicolored artificial landscape, a pack of yellow, blue, green and black chocobos racing each other to satisfy late-night gamblers, and more sights than Cloud could adequately process, all surrounded by the brilliantly shining gold of the structure itself.

"I've never seen anything like it…it's so beautiful," said Aeris.

"Yeah," Cloud replied simply, lacking any further words. They were silent for a time, content to just observe the wonders unfolding beneath them, but something else gradually wormed its way into Cloud's head, something that had been bothering him for a while, but much more so this evening. He cleared his throat. "Aeris, can I ask you something?"

She turned back from her window to face him, smiling. "Sure."

"Why are we here?"

A beat. "I never figured you for the existential type, Cloud."

Cloud shook his head. "No, I mean…why are we here on this ride? Why did you ask me out tonight? Why have you had such an interest in me ever since we first met?" It was hard at first, but now it started rushing out as if the floodgates had just burst. "I've been an ass to you and everyone else most of the time, I don't know why, it's the way I am, there's no reason for you or anyone else to show any interest in me, and yet here we are. So why? Why have you put up with me and pursued me like this? What the hell do you see in me?"

Aeris stared in plain-faced surprise until she forced a weak smile to her face. "That's not really polite first-date conversation, Cloud."

"I'm not kidding, Aeris. I'm trying to make some damn sense out of this whole thing and I'm coming up with nothing, because I can't for the life of me figure out why you go out of your way to be close to me, when I've always tried to distance myself. You could have any guy you want, any guy would kill to be in my position, but I've fought you every step of the way and you keep coming back. Why?"

Her faint smile promptly dropped away, and her face fell to look at the floor, Cloud intently watching her every movement. They stayed like this for a long moment until she looked back up at him. "Well…it's a lot of things, I guess," she said softly. "First it was your looks, I guess. You don't realize it Cloud, but you are a good-looking guy."

"It can't be that simple," said Cloud, only distracted for a moment by the unexpected compliment.

"No, it can't," Aeris agreed. "That was what first got my attention, I guess, but there's a lot more." Cloud was surprised and grieved to see Aeris' face grow pained as she paused, and he considered just letting the subject drop, but she soon continued of her own accord. "You…always seemed familiar to me. You reminded me of someone I cared about…someone I loved."

"That Zack guy?" Cloud asked. Aeris nodded, staring out the window.

"Your walk, your talk, your gestures, even your attitude…they were all so familiar. I think I must have seen him again in you."

"So you aren't over him by now?" Cloud asked tightly.

"No, it's not that…" Aeris said, green eyes starting to glisten. "I mean, I don't sit up at night pining for him or anything, but still…he was my first love, my only love…it's not something you can just forget, you know?"

Cloud didn't know. "…so that's it, then?"

"No!" Aeris cried. "No, Cloud, please try to understand…that drew me to you for awhile, but now things are different…you're different. I…I want to meet you," she said, reaching across the aisle and taking his hands as she looked into his eyes.

"…to meet me?" asked Cloud. Aeris nodded. "I don't understand."

"I know," she said gently. "And I wish I could explain it, more than anything I wish I could help you understand, but I think it's something you have to figure out for yourself."

She wasn't making sense, Cloud thought, but almost simultaneously he became extremely uncomfortable and he wrenched his hands from hers, returning to his side of the car. After a moment he looked back to her, somewhat guilty at his abrupt behavior, but Aeris did not seem at all surprised, instead giving him an understanding smile. He gave a small smile in return and relaxed somewhat, only to be startled by a loud 'crack' behind him. He turned to see a magnificent explosion of blue light shining against the night sky. Another crack on Aeris' side of the car heralded an explosion of brilliant red. Cloud had never been one for fireworks, but that was when he was watching them from the ground. The effect was quite different when they were exploding all around you, surrounding you on all sides. He looked over to Aeris, and they shared another smile before turning to watch the fireworks, content in their silence.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while. I knew I wanted to expand it greatly from what the game offered. There was so much buildup to it, with all the decisions you had to make to gain standing with one party member or another, that having the date end after the silly play and a few lines of dialogue in the gondola seemed thoroughly anticlimactic. Well, I won't spoil it by rambling incessantly, so I'll sign off here. And do tell me what you think.

Peter J Marcroft heaven-monument White Illusion: much thanks for your reading and praise! Rest assured that I am aware of the formatting problems this story has, and it bugs me greatly as well. I type it in MS Word with correct indentations and paragraph breaks, but when I upload it to the site all that somehow gets screwed up, leaving me with the jumbled mess you've noticed. I've tried many a time to remedy this, to little or no avail, so I'm afraid it's here to stay. If you're really committed, I could e-mail you the original document to read, correct formatting and all.

Dark ki: Hope you enjoyed the big arena fight. I wasn't looking forward to writing it, but I was pretty happy with how it came out.


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